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'-"'^ E I C H M O N D 



.DURIJfSTHE VAR; 



FOUR YEARS OF PERSONAL OBSERVATION, 

\ 



BY A BICHMOND LADY. 



^ 

<6^ 



i' NEW YORK: 

p. ^, Carleton & Co., Publishers,! 



LONDON : S. LOW, SON & CO. 
MDCCCLXTH. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 

G. W. CARLETON & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
,!i Southern District of New York. 



®0 

HER 

SOUTHERN S93TERS, 

WHO, 
IN THE CAUSE OF THE LATE 

SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, 

FOR WHICH 
THEIR BRETHREN YIELDED UP 

THEIR LIVES 

" DID ALL THAT WOIVIAN EVER DARES." 

IS THIS VOLUME, 

HER VIRGIN EFFORT, 

WITH WHATEVER THERE IS IN IT OF MERIT, 

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

The Secession of Vieoinia. — How Richmond received the News, 17 

CHAPTER n. 
The Fiest Alaem — The Pawnee Sunday, 23 

CHAPTER ni. 
Gaia Days of the Wae, 26 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Gatheeing of the Teoops, 33 

CHAPTER V. 

RlCHSIOND THE CAPITAL — SoCIAIi CHANGES, 38 

CHAPTER VI. 
The First Invasion of Vebginia, 42 

CHAPTER Vn. 
Position of the Cleegy, ~ 46 

CHAPTER Vin. 
The First BattTjE— Gbbat Bethel, 49 

CHAPTER IX. • 
DiSASTEES IN Western Virginia, 56 

CHAPTER X. 
The Battle of Manassas — Its Effect in Richmond 59 

CHAPTER XL 
Richmond a Hospital — Aekival of Peisonees, 65 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Xn. PAGE 

Incidents of Battle, 68 

CHAPTER Xm. 
- CHANaES IN Richmond — An Eyil Addition, 75 

CHAPTER XTV. 
* Richmond a City of Refuge — ^Extortions, 78 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Close of 1861 — The Hope of Inteevention — Capture of 

Mason and Slidell, 81 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A Sad Holiday Week — Woek fob the Soldeees, 87 

CHAPTER XVn. 

The Fall of Roanoke Island — Disastees on the Tennessee 

AND CUMBEELAND RiVEES — GlOOM IN RICHMOND, .... 99 

CHAPTER XVm. 
Remains of Union Sentiment in Richmond — Business Changes, 101 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Richmond the Pekmanent Capital 106 

CHAPTER X5. 
The Eight in Hampton Roads, 109 

CHAPTER XXL 
A Gbowing Scaecity of Food est Richmond, 113 

CHAPTER XXn. 
Opening of the Peninsulae Campaign — Mageudee's Small Foece, 116 

CHAPTER XXni. 

Disastees to the Confedeeate Cause in the Southwest — The 

Battle of Sheloh, 121 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Accumulating Disastees — Effect of the Fall of New Oeleans, 125 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The Battles of Se'^'EN Pines and Faie Oaks, 132 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XXVI. PAGE 

Jackson's Campaign in the Valley, . . . . , 137 

CHAPTER XXVn. 
Stuabt's Raid, - 140 

CHAPTER XXVni. 
The Seven Days' Battles on the Peninsula, ...... 144 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Pope's Oedees — Captures — Libby Peison, 155 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The Battle or Cedak Mountain — Noetheen Lettee-Weiting, . 158 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

The Peoyost Maeshal's Ofitce in Richmond — Incidents, . . 161 

CHAPTER XXXn. 

The Second Battle or Bull Run — A "Woman's Steatagem, . . 1G3 

CHAPTER XXXin. 
The Clouds Lifted, .... - 1G6 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Retuen of the Confedeeate Congeess — Women at Woek in 

THE Public Depaetments, 1G9 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Fidelity of the Negeoes, - 177 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Lee's Invasion of Maryland — The Battle of Antletam, . . . 180 

CHAPTER XXXVn. 

Scenes in Richmond in the "Winteb of 1862-b, 188 

CHAPTER XXXVm. 
Buenside's Campaign — Refugees in Richmond, 196 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Running the Blockade, - 202 

CHAPTER XL. 
, The Beead Riot in RicmioND, 208 



XU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK XLI. page 

» Spies, -. 211 

CHAPTER XLH. 
Stoneman's Raid— Panic in Richmond, . . o 213 

CHAPTER XLIlX . 
Hooker's Campaign — Death of Stonewall Jackson, .... 215 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

^ SUTFEKINGS OP THE WoUNDED — LaCK OF SUPPLIES, . = . . . 225 

CHAPTER XLV 

The Fall of Yicksbukg — Its Effect, 228 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

Lee's Invasion of Pennsylvania — Effect of the Battle op 

Gettysbueg, , . . . . 233 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

The Summer of 1863— A Woman Areested foe Teeason, . . 248 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 
^. Povebty in Richmond, 250 

CHAPTER XLIX. 
Beagg's Campaign — The Battle of Chickamauga, 257 

CHAPTER L. 
Teouble with the Negeoes, 262 

CHAPTER LI. 

Christmas, 1864 — Opening of the New Yeab, ...... 267 

CHAPTER LH. 

- CONFEDEEATE CUEEENCT — FABULOUS PeICES IN RICHMOND, . . . 271 

CHAPTER Lin. 

The Confedeeate Congeess in the Wintee of 1863-4, . . . 274 

CHAPTER LIV. 
Dahlgeen's Raid aeound Richmond, 276 

CHAPTER LV. 

The Speing of 1864 — Moegan's Retuen to Richmond, . . . 284 



CONTENTS. Xiii 

CHAPTEE LVI. page 

Peoposed Evacuation of Richmond — Eemoval of the Tkeas- 

uey-note bubeau, 288 

CHAPTER LVn. 
The SuiiMEB Campaign of 1864 — The Battles of the Wil- 

290 



CHAPTER LVni. 
Peteksbueg, 299 

CHAPTER LIX. 
Starvation est Richmond, 303 

CHAPTER LX. 

Destkuction of the Aiabajvia — Sherman's Maech, . . . . . 305 

CH.\PTER LXI. 
Eaely's Campaign — "Washington Thbeatened, 312 

CHAPTER LXII. 
Life in Richmond in 1864, 314 

CHAPTER LXm. 

Both Sections Tieed of Wae — The Negotiation at Niagaea 
Fails — Colonel Jacques's Visit to Richmond — The 
Chicago Convention, 321 

CHAPTER LXIY. 

The Capture of Mobile — The Fall of Atlanta — The Fall 

Campaign abound Richmond, 326 

CHAPTER LXV. 
Sheetdan's Campaign in the Valley — Naval Losses — ^Re-elec- 
tion of Me. Lincoln — Arming of Slaves, 331 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

Hood's Campaign in Tennessee — Sheeman's March theough 
Geoegia — The Confedebate Arimees Depleted by De- 
sertion, 336 

CHAPTER LXVn. 
The Wintee of 1864-5 — ^Want of Fuel and Provisions— Ro- 
mance— Prices, 310 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LXVm. page 

Captthie of Fokt Fishek — Occupation of Wilmington and 

Chableston — End of Sheeman's Mabch, ... ... 347 

CHAPTER LXIX. 
MoEE Peace Negotiations — Government Appeal foe Food, . . 349 

CHAPTER LXX. 

FOEEBODINGS OP DiSASTEE — ShEEIDAN's GeEAT RaID AND HIS 

Junction with Geant, 357 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

Opeeattons of Geant and Lee — Fall of Peteesbueg, . . . . 359 

CHAPTER LXXn. 

Evacuation of Richmond — Buening of the City, 362 

CHAPTER LXXm. 

Visit of President Lincoln to Richmond — The Federal Gov- 
ernment Feeding the People, 371 

CHAPTER LXXIV. 
Surrender of Lee, • 374 

CHAPTER LXXV. 

The Assassination — Capture of Jefferson Davis— Concluding 

Events of the War, 380 

CHAPTER LXVI. 
Life in the Old Land Yet, 388 



INITIAL CHAPTER. 



RICHMOND m HISTORY. 

Had not cruel siege been laid to Saragossa, and Londonderry, and 
Gibraltar, and Sebastopol, they had had scarcely more than a local 
name, and the pages of history had not been gilded with examples of 
self-abnegation, sacrifice, and valor so sublime as to appeal to heaven 
for admiration. Heroism, patriotism, and all the nobler instincts of 
the human soul, are rarely developed in the bright sunshine of prosper- 
ity. The rough winds of adversity are needful to the germination of 
the precious seed which God has generously implanted, but chooses to 
bring to the budding and blossoming and fruition in his own good way. 
Had not the passions of man lighted the frenzied torch of war, and 
opened its bloody trail upon the plains of the Crimea and the waters 
of the Euxine, the world had never known that greatest of heroines, 
Florence Nightingale. Had not oppression, under specious legal pre- 
tence, trodden heavily upon America, she had not given to the world her 
Washington. The bloody French revolution made a Napoleon ; a later 
revolution made another of the same great name ; a still later upheaval 
has made a Bismarck. 

With memories crowding up like trooping phantoms, some beautiful 
and pleasant, some taunting and derisive, our fingers are toying listlessly 
with a Key ! It is somewhat tarnished, but the red stains are partially 
v\'om off by recent use. What must be done with it? We feel that 
there is something in the locked chamber that will interest us — some- 
thing that the world will be wiser and better for knowing — and hesitat- 
ingly we turn the key, to reveal the secrets held by the Confederate Capital 
during four years of terrible civil war. 

The writer, a Southern woman, tells in this volume a story of person- 
al experiences and observations in Richmond. In beginning a series of 
Recollections of the War, her original intention was to give them pub- 
lication through the columns of some friendly journal, but by the advice 



16 INITIAL CHAPTER. 

of friends, (partial, it may be,) tlie narrative has been so amplified as to 
include a much larger field than was originally intended, and is now pre- 
sented as a truthful though imperfect picture of scenes of which she was 
personally cognizant. In opening the door of our devoted city, we do 
not mean to praise her, but to let the simple record tell the story of her 
worth. Richmond has won a place in history beside Athens and Sparta 
and Rome, and her heroes, like theirs, are immortal. 

Acknowledgments are due to the author of the Southern history enti- 
tled "Four Years of the War," from whose pages accounts of military 
movements have been liberally drawn ; but many incidents illustrative 
of the heroic endurance of the men and women of the South during 
the whole of their terrible ordeal are narrated from individual observa- 
tion ; while the singular scenes occurring in the Capital itseK formed a 
part of the author's daily experience. She submits her work, with a 
sincere desire that kindly relations may be speedily restored between the 
lately warring sections ; and asks that it may be remembered that while 
there is much to be forgotten, it is God-like to rouorvB. 



EICHMOND DURING THE ¥AR, 



CHAPTER I. 



THE SECESSION OF VIBGINIA ^HOW RICHMOND RECEIVED THE NEWS. 

TO the anxious and restless inhabitants of Richmond, the 
proceedings of the Virginia Convention during the win- 
ter of 1861 seemed slow, undecided, and uncertain. Sepa- 
rated, by the action of the other Southern States, from their 
former close communion with those to whom they weie 
allied by sympathy, relationship, and interest, they chafed 
under the apprehension that they would be compelled to 
remain in the Union. Divided counsels distracted the atten- 
tion of the members of the Convention ; the strong party 
which favored immediate secession, was opposed by an- 
other which insisted upon the expediency of a compromise, 
and there was still another faction which bitterly resented 
every proposition to sever the relations existing between 
Virginia and the Federal Government. It was at this 
period that the women of Virginia, and especially of Rich- 
mond, began to play the important part in public affairs, 
which they sustained with unflinching energy during four 
years of sanguinary and devastating war. The hall of the 
Convention became their favorite place of resort and occa- 
sionally they engaged in political discussion before the as- 
semblage of the members. Every prominent delegate had 
his own partisans among the fair sex. Every womail was 
to some extent a politician. 



18 THE SECESSION OF VIKGINIA. 

On the afternoon of the 14th of April, the news of the fall 
of Fort Sumter reached us by telegraph. It was received 
with the wildest demonstrations of deUght. A hundred 
guns were fired, and as the reverberations were heard for 
miles around, the people of Richmond knew that there was 
some wonderful cause for joy, and those not of the city won- 
dered whether they commemorated the victory of the Con- 
federates at Sumter, or whether the Convention had at last 
passed the ordinance of secession. But the intelligence of 
the actual event spread rapidly ; men from the adjoining 
country flocked to the city to hear the wonderful story ; 
bonfires were kindled, rockets sent up, and the most tumul- 
tuous excitement reigned. All night the bells of Richmond 
rang, cannons boomed, shouts of joy arose, and the strains 
of "Dixie's Land," already adopted as the national tune of 
the Confederates, were wafted over the seven hills of the 
city. 

There was little room to doubt the spirit of the peoj)le of 
Richmond at that time. Denunciations were heaped ujDon 
the Convention, because of its tardiness, and attempts 
were made to run up the Stars and Bars on the dome 
of the Capitol. Mothers, forgetful, in the tumult, of the 
restraint usually imposed upon their youthful sons, per- 
mitted them to join in the demonstrations of delight; and 
the boys shouted eagerly for the Southern Confederacy, and 
for Beauregard, the hero of Eort Sumter, and cried, " Down 
with the Old Flag !" 

Through respect to the Sabbath, which came on the next 
day, these noisy demonstrations were suspended, though the 
subject of excitement was of too starthng a character to be 
hushed up, even by the sanctity of the day, and was quietly 
discussed everywhere but in the houses of worship. 
>l The writer of these recollections on that day crossed 
Mayo's Bridge, and as her eye rested on the shipping that 
lay at anchor in the river, she saw from the mast-heads of 
the vessels, floating in the breeze and sunshine, the Stars 
and Stripes, the old flag, under whose folds, as the ensign 



THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA. 19 

of her nation, she had first breathed the air of heaven. 
Emotions, the most thrilling yet the most inexplicable, took 
possession of her. Her pride in it had ever been intense ; 
her love for it characterized by the most sincere veneration. 
She questioned with herself whether she had lived to see 
the day when that flag, which had ever been to her the em- 
blem of all that was great and gioiious, in a free govern- 
ment, should become the symbol of tyranny and of oppres- 
sion to the rights she held most sacred. *^ On the next 
Sabbath, as she stood upon the same spot, from the mast- 
heads of those vessels she saw floating, not the Stars 
and Stripes — but the Stars and Bars. Virginia had 
seceded. 

On the 17th of April, after sitting nearly two months, at 
a late hour of the night, and in secret session, the Conven- 
tion of Virginia passed an ordinance of secession, while it 
was yet hopeful of new constitutional guaranties, and a re- 
vulsion of feeling at the North. 

The resolution, which was unanimously adopted, was as 
follows : 

"The people of Virginia recognize the American principle, that gov- 
ernment is foimded on the consent of the governed, and the right of the 
people of the several States of this Union, for just cause to withdraw 
from their association, under the Federal Government, with the people 
of the other States, and to erect new governments for their better secu- 
rity ; and they never wall consent that the Fedeiul power, which is in 
part their power, shall be exerted for the purpose of subjecting such 
States to the Federal authority." 

From the secrecy which characterized the proceedings of 
the Convention, the people of Richmond were expecting 
some important results, and were not surprised at the infor- 
mation announced in the morning papers. Suddenly — al- 
most as if by magic — the new Confederate flag was hoisted on 
the Capitol, and fi'om every hill-top, and from nearly every 
house-top in the city, it was soon waving. The excitement 
w^as beyond descrijDtion ; the satisfaction unparalleled. All 
business was suspended for the time, and the work of the 



20 THE SECESSION 01? VIKGINLV. 

moment was universal congratulation. At last Virginia was 
free from the obligation that bound her to a.XJmon which 
S become hateful. Cannons were fired, bells rang, shou s 
rent the air, the inhabitants rushed to and fro to dxscuss 
the ioyfiU event. A stranger suddenly transported to the 
eUy without a knowledge of preceding facts, would have 
imaUned the people in a state of intoxication or insanity. 

B^t the grand demonstrations of deUght were reserved for 
the evening of the 19th of April, when the -»^f "^^ -- 
magnificently illuminated, and the secession of the State 
TelTbratedby the most extensive torch-light procession ever 
known there. The illumination seemed so unive'sal. that 
the writer, who spent the evening in walking about the city. 
Toes not remember a single building from -^-ch the g^^am- 
ing of lights was not visible. A favorite form of this dlumi 
nation was the Cross of the South ; and if among he poor 
and humble, there were wanting means to ^^-^^^^l^^^^l 
Iv a sino-le light in the window proved that at least the 
Inclination to^rejoice was not wanting. All love for the 

"""Z ;=l:tjnnitg its Hne of march on M^shaU 
Strect,'rapidly swelled in numbers until, -^^ ^^ 
Main Street, the thoroughfare was entnrely blockaded fox 
many squares; Rockets were flashing m all directions, Eo- 
man candles dai-tedmyriadsofstars.numerousbandsofmusic 

"Coursed the new national airs, and thousands of voices 
•o ned in the choruses. Transparencies of all sizes and 

descriptions, bearing -o-^^^-* ^^^^^^^^^ r^: sha 1 
were borne in the procession. Passing through Mai shall 
Ind Broad Streets, Ld down Main Street to its terminus 
beyond Church HiUs. the procession marched through 
Slin Street, past the State Court House, and paused 
in front of the Ballard House, and Exchange Hotel, whexe 
enthusiastic speeches were made by various orators^ The 
sight was novel. As far as the eye could reach down the 
line of Franklin Street, and over the hill, more than a mile 
Sant, gleamed the torches, and the din, transparencies 



THE SECESSION OF VIEGINLL 21 

shone Kke illuminated squares of vapor, or gigantic fire-flies; 
the sounds of musical instruments growing fainter and 
fainter, until they were lost upon the ear, or drowned in 
the hum of the multitude, which now and then burst 
forth into the wildest hurrahs. It was impossible to mis- 
take the sentiment which possessed the soul of the assem- 
blage. It was not the result of a sudden ebuUition of 
excitement, but of real emotion, long cherished. 

Among the orators introduced, were one or more from 
Georgia, and several from North Carolina, among whom 
was G-eneral Ransom, afterwards favorably distinguished in 
the Confederate service. He came, he said, "to bring 
news from the Old North State, which was ready to follow 
the example of the Old Dominion, and had already secured 
every fortress belonging to her territory, with seventy-five 
thousand stand of arms — thus pledging herself to the cause 
of the South, and gi'vdng one more State to the Confederacy." 
This announcement called forth the wildest acclamations. 
Cheer after cheer rent the aii*. Then came another speaker, 
who announced the resistance in Baltimore, and described 
the bloody scenes which had occurred in the attempt to 
pass Federal troops through the streets of that city. Al- 
though this piece of information had been received several 
hours previously, and was commemorated on the transpar- 
encies, it was presented by the speaker with such force that 
renewed cheers went up, and the shouts for Baltimore were 
loud and long. 

The orators of this occasion were introduced by a lawyer 
of Albemarle County, Virginia, a young man of distinguished 
abilities, the son of an old and prominent politician, and 
promising himself to make no inconsiderable figure in the 
political arena. In prefacing the introduction of one of 
Richmond's illustrious guests, excited by the enthusiasm of 
the moment, he declared: "I am neither a prophet, nor the 
son of a prophet, yet I predict that in less than sixty days 
the flag of the Confederacy will be waving over the White 
House " — alluding to the expected capture of Washington. 



I ■ 



22 THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA. 

" Yes," exclaimed one in tlie crowd, " in less tlian thirty 
days!" But how feeble is human foresight, and human 
wisdom. The Southern cry of " On to AVashington," was 
the complement of the Northern " On to Richmond." Un- 
educated in the difficult arts of war, what then seemed feasi- 
ble to the glowing and enthusiastic imagination of confident 
hope, grew painfully less so, as instructed and bitter experi- 
ence taught many that they had engaged in no mere child's 
play. 

As we stood upon the steps of the Ballard House, enter- 
tained by a distinguished member of the Convention, while 
many interesting incidents of the session were discussed, 
allusion was made to the fact that a prominent man in that 
body had received from the ladies of Richmond a crown of 
flowers as a token of their admiration for his fidelity to the 
Union. Surprise was expressed, for it had been generally 
understood, that among the women of Richmond the seces- 
sion sentiment was most warmly cherished. Pointing to a 
window of the hotel on the opposite side of the street, he 
remarked, " I am happy to enlighten you, and can explain 
quite to your satisfaction how the mistake- originated." He 
continued: " You see there, two ladies ?" "Yes." "Well, 
they are from Boston, and with them originated the com- 
pliment ascribed to the ladies of this city." 

This affair, incorrectly reported at the time, gave rise to 
the story which appeared in the newspapers at the North, 
that the women of Richmond were opposed to secession. 
The fact was, that long before the ordinance of secession 
was passed by the Convention, almost every woman in Rich- 
mond had in her possession a Confederate flag — ready, at 
any moment, to run it out from her window. 



THE FIRST ALARM. 23 

CHAPTER n. 

THE FIRST ALARM THE PAWNEE SUNDAY. 

UP to this time, we liad scarcely begun to realize tliat 
war was inevitable. We had hoped against hojDe, 
until the battle of Fort Sumter was fought, that some com- 
promise might be elfected, some specific measures adopted 
to stay the dreaded evil. Richmond was never in a more 
prosperous condition. Her. trade was flourishing; articles 
of food were abundant and cheap; the stores were well 
stocked with merchandise; pauperism was almost unknown; 
the people were independent and happy. In intelligence, 
morality, refinement and piety, the inhabitants compared 
favorably with those of any city in the Union. 

On the day succeeding the night of the illumination, the 
cit}^ relapsed into comparative quiet; but steady watch was 
kept up for any hostile demonstration. Military organiza- 
tions were begun, and volunteers fast filled the ranks. The 
Richmond Light Infantry Blues possessed some enviable 
historic fame. It was an organization which dated its ori- 
gin prior to the Revolution of 1776, and had numbered 
among its ranks some of the most gallant and chivalrous 
of the descendants of the old cavaliers of Virginia. At this 
time, it was under the command of Captain O. Jennings 
Wise, a son of Ex-Governor Wise, and then associate editor 
of the Richmond Enquirer, which had been, since the days 
of the elder Ritchie, the principal organ of the Democracy 
of Virginia. Company F and the Richmond Greys had 
their ranks filled by young men generally of wealth, educa- 
tion and refinement, enthusiastic, brave and generous. All 
these companies of infantry were well drilled in mihtary 
exercises, and ready to use their skill in defence -of the cause 
which had divided the North from the South, even to the 
death. These companies, with the Battahon of the Rich- 
mond Howitzers, and the Fayette Artillery, composed at 
that time the v^hole military force of the city under regular 
organization. 



21 THE FIRST ALATtM. 

It had been announced that at the shghtest premonition 
of danger, the bell on the Capitol Square should be rung, 
when the military companies were to repair to their respec- 
tive armories and prepare to meet any emergency. On 
Sunday, the 21st of April, occurred the first of a wonderful 
succession of Sabbath day excitements. Indeed, so com- 
mon did such excitements finally become, that with few ex- 
ceptions, we declared all Sunday rumors false. On this 
warm and balmy April day, the attendance at the different 
churches was more than usually large. Carefully refraining 
from making their pulpit discourses themes of political dis- 
cussion, our clergymen nevertheless offered up the most 
fervent and devout prayers continually, that God, in his wis - 
dom, might quell the surging billows of angry discord, dis- 
pose the hearts of men to peace, and stay the scourge of 
war; and it was noted as a singular coincidence on that 
day, that the peculiar lesson in the Episcopal Churches was 
regarded, by many, as prophetic of success to the South: — • 
"Yea, will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 
Yea, the Lord will answer, and say unto his people, 'Behold, I 
will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satis- 
fied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach 
among the heathen, but I will remove far off from you the 
Northern Army, and will drive him into a land barren and 
desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder 
part toward the uttermost sea, and his stink shall come up, 
and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great 
things.' " 

The services had proceeded until just at their close in 
some of the churches, and in others during the last prayer, 
the premonitory sound of the beU on the Square disturbed 
the solemnity of the hour, and awoke the people to a dread 
sense of danger — from what source, they could not tell. 

In an instant all was confusion. The men, in the excite- 
ment, rushed pell-mell fi'om the churches; and the women, 
pale and trembhng with affright, clung to their son^ ^^ ^ 
husbands, wherever they could — but getting no respoi.. 



THE FIRST ALARM. 25 

their tearful question — ""What ^■s the matter ? '\^Tiat is the 
matter?" 

Hasty embraces, sudden wrenchings of the hand, tearful 
glances of affection, and our men rushed to their armories 
to prepare they knew not for what. On every female face 
was the pale hue of dismay; but mingled with it, the stern, 
unmistakable impress of heroic resolution to jield up 
their hearts' most cherished idols upon the altar of their 
country, if need be. Silently, tearfully, our women wended 
their way to their homes, and from every closet^ the out- 
pourings of supplicating souls, for protection to the loved 
ones, went up to the ear of the Eternal. 

The alarm, however, was groundless. It originated in a 
report that the Federal sloop of war Pawnee, which had 
been operating in Norfolk Harbor, was making her way up 
James Eiver, bent upon the destruction of Richmond. In 
a situation entirely defenceless, with no obstacles to prevent 
an easy and rapid communication vvith the city, either by 
land or water, it was by no means foolish to suppose such 
a plan possible, and even feasible. 

On passing down Main Street, a novel sight met our gaze. 
The different companies of infantry were all mustered, nu- 
merous pieces of artillery of light calibre, belonging to the 
Howitzer Battalion and the Fayette Artillery, were drawn 
out into the street; almost every man carried a gun of some 
description, and boys, who had learned to shoot, appeared 
with light fowling-pieces. The ridiculous was singularly 
blended with the solemn and impressive. Onlj at the slow- 
est pace could a carriage make its way through the crowded 
street, and then with much risk to the lives of the occu- 
pants, from a prospect of frightened horses. 

After much deliberation it was decided to send down to a 
convenient position on the river, a few miles below the city,, 
several pieces of artillery to greet the coming of the in- 
truder. This was the first movement of the Virginia military 
in the late war. 

As twihght gathered over the city, the faint booming of 
2* 



26 GALA, DAYS OF THE WAE. 

distant cannon was distinctly heard, and apprehension of 
an engagement with the Pawnee was entertained; but the 
reports were afterwards ascertained to be only the result of 
a trial of the pieces. The next morning, by order of the 
governor, the artillery were recalled to the city, to be sent, 
in a very few days, to meet an emergency of greater impor- 
tance. 

This day has since been famiharly known to the people of 
Eichmond as the Pawnee Sunday, and many ridiculous oc- 
currences were the source of much subsequent amusement. 



CHAPTER m. 

GAXA DAYS OF THE WAE. 



rr^HROUGH the management of Mr. Floyd, the South 
JL was not entirely unprepared for the emergency she 
was required to meet. He had succeeded in getting an 
order for the transfer of certain arms of an improved and 
valuable kind from the armories of Springfield and Water- 
vliet to the different arsenals of the South; and with these, 
together with arms distributed by the Federal Government 
to the different States, prior to this period, and those pur- 
chased by the States and citizens, the South was not wholly 
wanting in the means to meet the demands of the time. 
But when we reflect upon the weakness of the South, her 
utter insufficiency, compared with the numbers and re- 
sources with which she presumed to contend, we are lost 
in amazement at the very inception, to say nothing of the 
continuation of the struggle through four long years of 
difficulties, that grew and thickened at every step — of imped- 
iments which arose, unlooked for, and everywhere. 

The news from abroad was discouraging. Baltimore had 
been subdued; Federal troops were j)assing through daily; 
and many of her citizens were wending their way to Rich- 
mond. 



GALA DAYS OF THE WAE. 27 

In a very short time the population of Richmond in- 
creased in a wonderful ratio. Strange faces greeted the 
citizens at every turn; and the city, even at that early 
period, began to wear the stern and remarkable characteris- 
tics she has ever since retained. The absorbing question 
of the moment was that of war. The most active enthu- 
siasm was everywhere visible. It was weU that we were not 
then aware of our own weakness, nor that we .were in want 
of everything but brave hearts and willing hands. We were, 
as a people, a living exemplification of the truth of the pro- 
verb that "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." 
Sanguine expectations of speedy success were entertained 
by many; and some doubted whether the pohcy of coercion 
would be carried out in an active engagement. It vf as hard 
to believe that we were actually plunged into the troubles 
we so much deprecated; that the horrent front of war was 
bristling before us. 

The theatre of war on land was soon understood to be on 
our own soil. Virginia w^as to be the principal battle-ground 
of the antagonistic forces; and General Lee, who had re- 
signed his commission as Colonel of Cavahy in the old 
United States Army, was placed in command of all the Con- 
federate forces in Virginia. 

Feeling that our State had become the particular object of 
hatred and hostility to the old government, we hastened 
with all possible energy, to meet the necessities which might 
arise. The most active preparations for the terrible future 
commenced from the time that Virginia ranged herseK under 
the banner of the Southern Confederacy. Colleges and 
public schools of all grades suspended operations, and our 
young men hastily sought instruction in the art of war. 
Men of all grades and professions were to be found, filling 
up the ranks for the coming contest. The clergyman laid 
aside his surplice, the lawyer his briefs, the physician his 
scalpel, the merchant his ledger, the farmer his i>lough, the 
artisan the tools which denoted his craft. All placed them- 
selves in the ranks of the military, for assignment to whatever 



28 GALA DAYS OF THE WAR. 

position miglit be best suited to them, in the defence of 
their country. The most lucrative employments were 
cheerfully abandoned, the widest fields for enterprise were 
unnoticed and neglected, in the spirit of patriotism which 
incited our population to action. 

Could all this have been but from the excitement of the 
times — the ebullition of passion — a spurious enthusiasm? 
It may do for one remote from the scene of action to an- 
swer " Yes," but to an eye-witness, another solution to the 
mystery is evolved. 

It was the bursting of the green withes with which the 
young giant was fettered — it was the breaking of the cords 
of oppression with which he had been bound — it was the 
undying love of Liberty — which had been re-echoed from 
the ancient walls of old St. John's (which gives a name to 
one of the seven beautiful hills of Richmond, ) a legacy be- 
queathed by their fore-fathers, through their spokesman, the 
immortal Patrick Henry — "Give me Liberty, or give me 
death !" They felt 

"To fight— 

To fight in a just cause, and for our country's glory, 

Is the best office of the best of men ; 

And to decline when these motives urge, 

Is infamy beneath a coward's baseness. " 

But it is useless to attempt an explanation of the motives 
of Vii'ginians, at least, in the conduct of the late war — nor 
would we draw invidious comparison with the people of 
other States of the South. All were actuated by the same 
motives ; all were imbued by the same spirit — nor do we,^ 
by these remarks, wish any apology understood. The jus- 
tice of their cause was the main-spring of their action. To 
■ them it was clear and undimmed as the cloudless sunlight; 
to all whose minds are unclouded by prejudice, or undark- 
ened by fanaticism, it must aj^pear so. 

Should these lines meet the eye of any who may be dis- 
posed to give a harsh judgment, we only ask that, for a sin- 
gle moment, the promptings of a better principle within 
may be yielded to ; that a position may be taken from a 



GALA DAYS OF THE WAE. 29 

Virginia stand-point, and then make the decision. Under 
such circumstances we fear it not. It could only be what 
the brave and generous must ever award the brave and 
generous. 

In the meantime, the uprising throughout the State had 
been almost universal. Military companies were speedily 
formed in every section of the country. Indeed, with such 
alacrity and zeal did the young men press forward to join 
in the service of the South, that the numbers seemed likely 
to exceed the demand. Every railroad train that arrived in 
Richmond bore its freight of soldiers. Very soon, from all 
directions around the city, the white tents of the soldiery 
were seen dotting the landscapes. The first regiments from 
the States south of Virginia, which were transported 
thither, were the 1st South CaroHna, commanded by Col- 
onel Gregg, and the 2nd South Carohna, commanded by 
Colonel Kershaw. Their entire j)assage from Charleston, 
was an ovation. Everywhere on the route, demonstrations 
of the most enthusiastic and flattering character greeted 
them. At every depot and turn-out on the raili'oads, 
crowds assembled to get a sight of the heroes of Fort Sum- 
ter. Their arrival in Richmond was greeted by the most 
cordial welcome, and they bore the aj^pearance of guests at 
a holiday festival, rather than the stern features of. the sol- 
dier. The sadder and darker side of the duties of their new 
profession had not become familiar. Their encampments 
were thronged by visitors, who wished to hear from the lips 
of the young volunteers, the wonderful story of the bloodless 
victory at Fort Sumter. The evening di'ess-parade attracted 
admiring crowds of ladies, to whom every soldier seemed a 
hero. It was. the dehght of the young South CaroKnian to 
detail his experience in the campaign, and to give expres- 
sion to the enthusiastic patriotism which swelled his youth- 
ful bosom. Hope and fancy blended around him in such a 
halo of glory, that disappointment or failui'e never found 
place for a moment in his imagination. 

Even at that time, when the cause for which they strug- 



V 



80 GAIA DAYS OF THE WAE. 

gied so united the people of the South, a.jealous pride, and 
a peculiar devotion to the particular ^tate in which they 
claimed bii-thright or adoption, were strikingly perceptible. 
Strangely forgetful of the common motive which brought 
them to Virginia, by an unfortunate selection of words it 
was not unusual to hear them declare they had come " to 
fight the battles of Yirginia." This remark always pro- 
voked a ready, and often a bitter retort. 

Although very nearly every woman wore a "secession 
badge," and a braid or rosette of palmetto on her hat, and 
heaped upon the young soldiers grateful and flattering- 
attentions, she would grow indignant and strangely resent- 
ful of any remark conveying the idea that Virginia had 
originated the quarrel which moved the entire South, or 
that she needed help from other States to relieve her from 
the difficulty. They permitted no reflection on the Old 
Dominion. 

An amusing incident will serve to illustrate the state of 
feeling sometimes engendered by this unfortunate allusion. 

On an afternoon visit of a party from the city, to the en- 
campment of the South Carolinians, one of the ladies led 
by the hand a beautiful little girl of some eight or ten years 
of age. The gracefulness and spriglitliness of the child 
made her an object of notice to all with whom she was 
thrown in contact. It was not the first visit that she had made 
to the camp, and she was recognized by the soldiers as their 
"little Flora." Nothing dehghted her more than to go 
among them laden with flowers, which she would dispense 
with charming grace, generally selecting, from the instinct- 
ive promptmgs of her generous heart, the sick, weary, or 
dispirited upon whom to bestow her pleasant gifts. The 
ladies were soon joined by several young men of the camp, 
who tendered their services as escorts. After discussing 
the probabilities and possibilities of the future, a gallant 
young soldier of less than twenty summers, who had re- 
counted in an eloquent manner the scenes in Charleston 
Harbor, continued : " We have not only come to Virginia 



GALA DAYS OF THE WAR. 31 

to fight lier battles, but to take wives of lier fair daugliters. 
WiU you not promise me your cliarming little girl?" — taking 
the hand of the little simte, then disburdened of her bou- 
quets. 

"To fight Virginia's battles did you come?" exclaimed 
the lady, with much sarcasm and bitterness, " then indeed 
you should be rewarded with a wife from sheer gratitude." 
The young man blushed and did not reply. 
" Oh, yes," continued the excited lady, " if Virginia had 
been left to herseK, it is not probable she would have provoked 
a challenge that would have called you hither as her second. 
But since, from her territorial position, she must stand as a 
bulwark between her sister States of the South and inva- 
sion, and must take upon her soil the battles of the coun- 
try, I do not feel that she must be compelled to dispose of 
her patriotic girls as a gi'ateful reward to their defenders. 
I cannot say, sir, unless you recall your ill-timed remark or 
qualify it by better selected language, that I can answer 
"yes" to yom- proposition. My little girl must not be yielded 
up as a thankful acknowledgment of services rendered. It 
is extremely painful to rest under obligations." 

The young soldier was still mute, and the lady continued : 
" You appear to forget, sir, the common interest which has 
not only brought you hither, but has called into the field in 
its defence so many of our ovni noble young men," (pointing 
to a distant camp, where the Virginia soldiers were quar- 
tered.) 

"Excuse me, madam," he at last ventured to reply; 
" I sincerely regret my mat a propos remark. It was indeed 
very foolish, when I remember the noble relation Virginia 
occupies to the other States of the South. I will recall it, 
if you please, and substitute 'the battles of the Southern 
Confederacy.' Will that amendment please you ?" 

His fiiend smiled. "Ah! well, then," she rejoined, 
" my prayer is that this unfortunate war may not continue 
until my httle girl is old enough to dispose of to a suitor ; 
but if so, and you can prove worthy of her in your coun- 



32 GALA DAYS OF THE WAE. 

try's service, I may consent that she shall be the prize with 
which you shall be rewarded. Her promise is very bright, 
and 'none but the brave deserve the fair.' " 

She extended her hand to the soldier. He grasped it 
with fervor. "I thank you! I thank you!" he blushingly 
exclaimed ; " I shall not forget your promise, and shall en- 
deavor to prove worthy of your regard ; nor shall I forget, 
in my extreme State pride, to be cautious in discriminating 
between the cause of the South and the integral parts." 
And venturing to kiss his little fiancee, he continued to the 
lady: " You have taught me, madam, a useful lesson." 

Many amusing and striking anecdotes might be related 
of these times. Regardless of social distinction, or castes 
of society, the barriers which hedge familiar intercourse 
were broken down, and the man was almost forgotten in 
the soldier. The spirit which nerved the men to seek death 
at the mouth of the cannon made of every woman a hero- 
ine, and the unflinching courage with which they parted 
with their household gods sustained them throughout the 
trials, the horrors, the desolation which followed. Not only 
were the husband and father, the fully-grown boy yielded 
up, but often "little Benjamin," the youngest, the darling, 
the idol of the mother's heart, was called for, and cheerfully 
she bade him go ; and if tears were shed, the boy was not 
made a coward by the Southern mother's weakness. Our 
men were brave ; our women not the less so. It required 
even more courage to abide patiently the result of war than 
to face the danger and forget in the excitement of the cam- 
paign the perils incident to it. 

A lady one day, while visiting an encampment of South 
Oarohna soldiers, approached a sentinel to ask some ques- 
tions, when, failing to give the desired information, he was 
assisted by a bright-eyed boy, in the soldier's uniform, 
whose fine complexion, beaming countenance and extreme 
youth instantly attracted her attention and interest. Turn- 
ing to him she exclaimed: "How young you must be!" " I 
am fifteen " he answered. 



THE GATHERING OF THE TEOOPS. 33 

"Too young for this work," tlie lady rejoined, kindly tak- 
ing tlie hand of the boy; " too young — too young." 

His face lighted up with pride and enthusiasm, and 
proudly holding out his musket at arm's length, he said, 

"But, madam, my gun can shoot as hard as any man's !" 

"But," continued the lady, almost overcome with emo- 
tion, " my brave boy, what said your dear mother to your 
becoming a soldier so young ?" 

"Nothing, noble lady; but she made my uniform, and she 
put this Testament in my pocket," exliibiting it as he spoke. 

Tears filled the eyes of the woman. " My mother did 
not shed a tear that I could see," the boy continued. 

In a very few days the regiment was ordered off. The 
lady saw the brave boy no more, but she never forgot him, 
and as often as memory reverted to that conversation, she 
offered up to God a prayer for the soldier boy, who, with 
his gun and Testament, and the remembrance of a mother 
who had placed upon him his uniform and armor, went forth 
to do battle for his country. 

These were the gala days of the war in Kichmond. The 
dire realities, the sickness, the mutilation, the sufferings, 
the miseries, were yet unknown. Only the glory which 
miofht accrue was shadowed forth. Absorbed in the con- 
templation of this, no thought was given to the darker 
events of the future. The shadows of coming events were 
not cast before, to chill the ardor of the young. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GATHERING QF THE TROOPS. 

VERY soon the entire country around Richmond as- 
sumed the appearance of one vast encampment. The 
Central Fair Grounds, about a mile and a half above the 
city, were used for the camp of instruction. Thither volun- 
teer companies were sent, the there they were di'illed in 
2* 



84 THE GATHEKING OF THE TROOPS. 

the manual of military exercises, by Colonel Smith and liis 
corps of cadets from tlie Virginia Military Institute at Lex- 
ington. Colonel Gillam was placed in command of the 
camp, and from the raw material furnished him he sent out 
many regiments of well-drilled soldiery. The success w^hich 
crowned the efforts to tutor the soldiers spoke volumes for 
the excellence of our principal military academy. We were 
not a military people, and everything pertaining to war was 
to be learned. For a while after the revision of the State 
Constitution in the winter of 1851, the military system was 
abandoned, and had only been revived for a few years, 
through the efforts of General Kemper when in fhe State 
Legislature. Our men, of the proper age for the army, had 
not even the advantages of the ordinary instruction of the 
militia at the outbreak of the war. The raw, awkward re- 
cruit, however, soon grew soldierlike in air and bearing, un- 
der the system of training by the young cadets; and the 
prospective hardships and privations of a soldier's hfe were 
cheerfully submitted to by the volunteer. 

The camp of instruction was a place of great interest. 
The blunder of the well-intentioned recruit was overlooked, 
in his evident desire to become a soldier, though not unfre- 
quently the risibilities of the spectator would be excited by 
the amusing scenes of the drill. The recruit's hands and 
arms, his feet, his head, seemed to be made for some other 
use, or peculiarly troublesome to him in the exercise re- 
quired. We were often astonished at the patience and dili- 
gence displayed by the cadets in training the recruits. 
Never showing weariness, they took delight in teaching the 
prospective soldier. 

All the States of the South were represented in the 
camps in and around Richmond, and the striking charac- 
teristics of the people of each State were plainly distin- 
guishable. Yery soon it became easy to tell whence a 
regiment or company came, by the very appearance of the 
men. 

The glowing enthusiasm of the South Carolinian was pre- 



THE GATHERINa OF THE TKOOPS. 85 

sented in striking contrast beside tlie cool determination of 
'the Virginian. The fiery impetuosity of the Louisianian 
was vividly displayed beside the steady courage of the 
Arkansas man. The wild ardor of the Mississippian was 
visible in contrast with the active energy of the Tennes- 
seean. The North Carolinian, the Georgian, the Ala- 
bamian, the Kentuckian, the Missourian, — each had his 
distinctive characteristic; while from his bold, free, inde- 
pendent air, the brave son of Texas was easily discovered. 
The world-wide fame of the Texan Ranger he brought 
with him to his new field of action, and throughout the 
war no soldiers earned a better reputation for endur- 
ance, bravery and courage than did the Texans. With them 
the names of McCulloch, Hayes and Chevallie were house- 
hold words. The XDresence of General McCulloch in Rich- 
mond was to the Texan soldier the only inspiration needed 
to strengthen his determination and nerve his courage to 
greater deeds of daring. They greeted his coming with 
demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm. Unhax3pily, he 
was destined soon to fall on the field of battle. 

Particularly noticeable among the volunteer forces sent 
into Virginia was the Battalion of "Washington Artillery, 
from New Orleans, which maintained throughout the war 
an honorable reputation for bravery, skill and determina- 
tion. Of that splendid battalion, which gave an immediate 
answer to the call to arms in the South, how few are left of 
those who came out first to bear witness to the deeds of 
daring of their brave companions ! 

The battalion of " Tigers " from New Orleans, commanded 
by the intrepid Wheat, were, as their name denotes, men of 
desj^erate courage but questionable morals. Tliey were well 
suited to the shock of battle, but wholly unfitted for the 
more important details of the camx^aign. Among them 
were many of lawless character, whose fierce passions were 
kept in abeyance by the superior discipline of their accom- 
phshed commander. 

Major Boberdore ^Vheat v/as the son of a clerg^anan of 



36 THE GATHEEING OE THE TROOPS. 

the Episcopal cliurcli. Educated under influences the most 
pious and refining, he was gentle, easy, graceful and digni- 
fied in society; toward the men under his command he was 
kind, but gTave and reserved, and exacting in the perform- 
ance of duty; in battle he was fiery, impetuous and resolute. 

But the most remarkable corps sent by New Orleans to 
the war in Virginia was the battalion of Zouaves. It was 
composed of the most lawless and desperate material which 
that city could send forth. It is said that its Colonel, with 
the approval of the Mayor of New Orleans, estabhshed re- 
cruiting booths in the different jails there, and each crimi- 
nal was given his option either to serve out his time or join 
the battalion. It was a strange, mixed body of desperate 
men of almost every nation, guilty of almost every crime, 
impelled by no spirit of patriotism in the defence of the 
country, but by the hope of being able to exercise their fa- 
vorite profession of freebooting. Dressed in their striking 
costume of red trowsers and blue jackets, the latter adorned 
with fanciful embroidery, and capped by the Turkish fez, 
their appearance everywhere excited the greatest attention. 
Their bronzed complexions, countenances often disfigured 
by horrid scars — the marks of former desperate encounters 
— and the cat-like, elastic step acquired in the drill, distin- 
guished this heterogeneous company. From the time of 
their appearance in Richmond robberies became frequent. 
Wherever a Zouave was seen something was sure to be 
missed. The poultry and garden stock around the city 
were favorite objects of depredation with these thievish 
soldiers. 

It was common with them to walk into saloons and 
restaurants, order what they wished to eat and drink, and 
then direct the dismayed proprietor to charge their bill to 
the government. The hall doors of private citizens were 
kept rigidly locked, and the strictest watch was directed 
upon the Zouaves as long as they tormented Richmond with 
their presence. 

Always finding means to effect their escape from their 



THE GATHERINa THE TEOOPS. 87 

barracks at niglit, they roamed about the city like a pack of 
untamed wildcats, and so clever were they in eluding the 
vigilance of the police, that few or none of them were 
brought to justice for the larcenies they committed. It 
was found absolutely necessary to assign them to a separate 
encampment, where lawlessness, strife and bloodshed be- 
came the order of the day. No man's hfe was safe who 
dared show himself within their encampment. 

It was with a feehng of sincere congratulation that the 
people of Eichmond heard at last of the departure of their 
terrible guests to the Peninsula, where, in the course of a 
few months, from death or desertion, this motley body of 
villains was effectually disjDersed. 

The troops from the northern portion of Louisiana and 
southern portion of Arkansas, in the vicinity of the Ked 
Biver, were among the finest and most striking looking men 
who appeared in the city. Usually tall, brawny and mus- 
cular, bronzed by exposure and inured to the most active 
exercise, they were peculiarly fitted for the arduous duties 
of a soldier's hfe. Apparently incapable of fatigue, they 
were distinguished for their powers of endurance. In a 
regiment of men from the Eed Eiver section, so numerous 
were those of immense size, that they might have been sup- 
posed to have descended from a race of giants. Their 
usual height was six feet and over, — very rarely under five 
feet ten inches, — with massive shoulders and chests. They 
bore upon them not an ounce of superfluous flesh. 

Florida, also, from her sparse population, furnished a 
creditable quota of troops, who were particularly distin- 
guishable on the dress parade for their evident lack of mih- 
tary education, but after much patience and perseverance 
on the part of their officers they were drilled into a useful 
soldiery. 



38 EICHMOKD THE CATTTAL. 

CHAPTEK V. 

RICHMOND THE CAPITAL SOCIAL CHANGES. 

IT was now found expedient to remove the seat of gov- 
ernment from Montgomery, Alabama, whicli liad been 
temporarily selected as the caj^ital of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, to Eichmond. On the 20th of May, Mr. Jefferson 
Davis, of Mississippi, Provisional President, arrived in 
Richmond. He was received with an outburst of enthusi- 
asm. A suite of handsome apartments had been provided 
for him at the Spotswood Hotel, until arrangements could 
be made for supplying him with more elegant and suitable 
accommodations. Over the hotel, and from the various 
windows of the guests, waved numerous Confederate flags, 
and the rooms destined for his use were gorgeously draj^ed 
in the Confederate colors. In honor of his arrival, almost 
every house in the city was decorated with the Stars and 
Bars. 

An elegant residence for the use of Mr. Davis was soon 
procured. It was situated in the western part of the city, 
on a hill, overlooking a landscape of romantic beauty. This 
establishment was luxuriously furnished, and there Mr. and 
Mrs. Davis disi)ensed the elegant hospitalities for which 
they were ever distinguished. Simple and unpretending, 
there was nothing in his manner to offend the democratic 
sentiment of the people, — surely nothing to induce the be- 
lief that he meditated assuming or asiDired to the preroga- 
tives of royalty. Mrs. Davis is a tall, commanding figure, 
with dark hair, eyes and complexion, and strongly marked 
expression, which lies chiefly in the mouth. With firmly 
set yet flexible lips, there is indicated much energy of pur- 
X^ose and v/ill, but beautifully softened by the usually sad 
expression of her dark, earnest eyes. She may justly be 
considered a handsome woman, of noble mien and bearing, 
but by no means coming under the description of the femi- 
nine adjective "pretty." Her manners are kind, graceful, 



KICHMOND THE CAPITAL. 89 

easy and affable, and her receptions were characterized by 
the dignity and suavity which should very properly distin- 
guish the di-awing-room entertainments of the Chief Mag- 
istrate of a repubUc. 

There was now work for every one to do. The effects of 
the blockade of our ports was very early felt. The number- 
less and nameless articles for which we depended upon for- 
eign markets were either to be dispensed with or to be 
manufactured from our own industry and ingenuity. With 
a zeal as commendable as that which answered the caU. to 
arms in the South, and especially in Virginia, the people 
set themselves to work to meet the demands made by the 
exigencies of the times. 

Troops continued to pour into Eichmond. Regiment 
after regiment came, without the necessary uniform or 
equipments to send them to the field. Our ladies engaged 
to prepare them properly for the work upon which they 
were committed to enter. 

Sewing societies were multiplied, and those who had for- y 
merly devoted themselves to gaiety and fashionable amuse- 
ment found their only real pleasure in obedience to the 
demands made ujoon their time and talents, in providing 
proper habiliments for the soldier. The quondam belle of 
the ball-room, the accomplished woman of. society, the de- 
votee of ease, luxury and idle enjoyment, found herself 
transformed into the busy sempstress. The click of the 
sewing-machine was the music which most interested them, 
and the " stitch, stitch, stitch," from morning till night, . 
as the ladies plied the needle and thread, was their chief 
employment. They very soon became adepts in the manu- 
facture of the different articles which compose the rough 
and simple wardrobe of the soldier. To these, necessary 
for him, they took delight in adding various other articles, 
which taste or friendship might suggest. There were very 
few of the soldiers who were not furnished with a neat 
thread-case, supplied with everything necessary to repair 
his clothing when absent from a friendly pair of hands 



40 KICHMOKD THE CAPITAL. 

which would do it foi* him; a visor to shield his face from 
the too fierce heat of the summer sun or to protect him 
from the cold of winter; a warm scarf and a Havelock. 

The sewing operations were varied by the scraping and 
carding of Hnt, the roUing of bandages, and the manufac- 
ture of cartridges, and many things unnecessary to men- 
tion, but which were the work of the womign. The poor of 
the city were supplied with such employment as secured to 
them a plentiful support. While the demand was great for 
clothing for the troops, the ladies of the higher and inde- 
pendent classes of society would undertake nothing which 
might deprive those who depended upon such employment 
for a livelihood, nor did they choose only the lighter work 
for themselves while they permitted the heavier and more 
difficult to go to the poor; but disregarding position, they 
employed themselves cheerfully upon anything necessary to 
be done. Heavy tents of cumbrous sail-cloth, overcoats, 
jackets and pantaloons of stiff, heavy material, from the 
sewing on which they were frequently found with stiff, 
swollen, bleeding fingers, were nevertheless perseveringly 
undertaken. And when we remember that during the four 
long and tedious years of the war our women never for a 
single day shrank from the stern duties that the necessities 
of the times imposed upon them, and again remember the 
indulgences in which they were usually nurtured, and their 
real ignorance of the harsher phases of life, and the cheer- 
fulness and heroism which characterized them throughout 
their bitter trials, our admiration exceeds our astonish- 
ment. 

We have been taught to revere the memories of the noble 
women of 1776. We love to claim descent from those 
noble heroines who stood side by side with the brave men 
who achieved our national independence; but we glory to 
know that the spirit which lived in them still animates the 
women of our country, and that for patient endurance 
under the most severe trials, fortitude to meet the direst 
ills of hfe, self-sacrificing devotion to what they believe 



RICHMOND THE CAPITAL. 41 

right, they were not excelled by their illustrious predeces- 
sors. And when in coming ages the records of the past 
shall tell the story of the sufferings of the women of the 
South during the four years of the late war, and the mar- 
tyr-like courage with which they met and braved the " times 
that tried men's souls," it must be said of them, "Many 
daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them 
aU." 

In a few months the usual routine of social hfe in Eich- 
mond had undergone a complete change. It had become a 
very rare occurrence to meet a young man of the usual age 
for military duty in the garb of a citizen. Indeed, it be- 
came remarkable; and for the sake of their reputation, if for 
no other or higher motive, it grew into a necessity for our 
young men to attach themselves in some capacity to the 
army. 

We were awakened in the morning by the reveille of the 
drum, which called the soldiers to duty, and the evening 
" taps " reminded us of the hour for rest. At all hours of 
the day the sounds of martial music fell upon our ears, and 
the " tramp, tramp " of the soldiers through the streets was 
the accompaniment. Nothing was seen, nothing talked of, 
nothing thought of, but the war in which we had become 
involved. Former distinctions were forgotten, old preju- 
dices laid aside, in the universal interest felt in the events 
of the future, dimmed by the sad prospect of intestine 
strife. Afflictions, troubles and misfortunes make all men 
brothers. The high-born youth forgets his position, forgets 
his superiority, as he stands side by side with the humble 
but brave soldier w^ho shares with him the fatigues of the 
march, the hardships of the camp, the shock of battle, the 
humiliation of defeat, or the glories of victory. Selfishness 
is not tolerated among soldiers. War is a leveller; and in 
the camp and field no man knows another save as his com- 
rade in arms. 

A little girl, who had been very exclusively reared, by 
force of circumstances, by a family in Richmond, though 



42 THE FIRST INVASION OF YIEGINLL 

herself imbued with as much of the spirit of patriotism aa 
could possess one so young, quite shocked at the familiarity 
of a soldier who had presumed to caress her, very indig- 
nantly remarked to the relative who had the charge of her, 
"Why, indeed! any man than wears a stripe on his panta- 
loons thinks he can speak to any lady !" The child had not 
then learned that the circumstances under which the soldier 
donned his uniform dissolved the barrier to introduction, 
and gave the soldier a right to attention from all. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE FIRST INVASION OF VIRGINIA. 

NO regiment was permitted to remain long in or near 
Richmond. As soon as the troops under instruction 
became sufficiently drilled in military exercises, they were 
transferred to positions where their services were most 
likely to be needed. From the spirit of determination to 
prosecute the war to a successful issue or perish in the con- 
test, there were no indications that the Southern people 
would very readily succumb to an enemy, however powerful. 
The spirit of the Northern press was almost universally 
boastful, mocking, derisive, taunting. The rebellion at the 
South was regarded as a matter of such meagre import that 
the enlistment of volunteers for three months was consid- 
ered ail that was necessary to subdue the insurgents. From 
the superior numbers and resources of the North, it was 
spoken of as merely boys' play to whip the " fire-eaters " 
into submission. No paper fell into our hands in which the 
Southern people were not told how contemptibly weak they 
were, — what presumption it was in them to dare to oppose 
an enemy so potential. 

The first stej) in the invasion of Virginia was the occupa- 
tion of Alexandria by the Federal troojos, on the 24:th of 
May, 1861. This was accomplished under cover of the 



THE FIRST INVASION OF YIRGINIA. 43 

niglit, and with sncli secrecy and success that some of the 
cavalry troops of Virginia, unconscious of any danger, were 
surprised in their quarters and taken prisoners. 

The occupation of the city by the Union forces was at- 
tended by a painfully dramatic incident, which was well 
calculated to teach those who invaded the soil the spirit of 
opiDOsition they were destined to meet with in that State. 

In the early dawn of the morning, Colonel Ellsworth, 
who with his Fire Zouaves had entered the town, observed 
a Confederate flag floating from the roof of the Marshall 
House, a hotel kept by one Jackson, who had a few days 
before placed it there, and had sworn to defend it with his 
life. This flag young Ellsworth had determined to secure 
as a prize, and making his way into the hotel, he climbed 
by a ladder to the top of the house and dragged down the 
obnoxious ensign. As he was descending, with the flag on 
his arm, he was met by Mr. Jackson, who, aroused by the 
unusual noise, sprang fi'om his bed, and hastily donning a 
few clothes, armed himself with a double-barrel gun, and 
thus met Ellsworth and the four companions who attended 
him. Pointing to the flag, Ellsworth remarked, "This is 
my trophy." " And you are mine," responded Jackson, as, 
with steady and rapid aim, he discharged the contents of 
his gun into the heart of the young Federal commander, 
and the next moment sank by his side a corpse, from a bul- 
let sped through his brain and bayonet a thrust from the 
hands of a soldier, and by which he was pinned to the floor. 

This attempt on the part of Colonel Ellsworth is now 
considered to have been as rash as unnecessary. He is said 
to have been a young man who gave promise of military 
genius, and was possessed of so much grace and elegance 
that they won for him speedy popularity. It is sad to con- 
template the sudden death of one so young and gifted, but 
sadder still to reflect that in Jackson's death not only a 
brave man was no more, but that a wife and four Httle chil- 
dren were reduced to the unprotected condition of widow- 
hood and orphanage. 



44 THE FIRST INVASION OF YIRGimA. 

A brother of Jackson, who vowed to avenge his brother's 
death, afterwards became a famous scout, and if in civiHzed 
warfare the scalps of our enemies could be shown as tro- 
phies of valor, to his war-belt would have hung a number 
sufficient to have gratified the revenge of a savage. The 
soul sickens to recount such fearful stories ! 

Upon the occupation of Alexandria by the Federal forces, 
the Confederates, under the command of General Bonham, 
from South Carolina, fell back to Manassas Junction, on the 
Orange and Alexandria Railroad. These forces consisted 
of the first of the troops which were sent to the war in Vir- 
ginia. Many of them were among those who had been en- 
gaged in the battle at Fort Sumter, with some regiments of 
Virginians. 

In Alexandria, as in Richmond, very httle of the Union 
sentiment remained, and much disappointment was said to 
have been expressed that the vanguard of the invasion was 
not hailed with demonstrations of pleasure, as intimations 
of a portion of the Northern press had predicted. 

The death of Jackson excited a profound sensation 
throughout the entire South, and particularly in Virginia. 
His was the first blood shed in defence of the flag — the 
first shed in defence of the cause on the soil of the Old 
Dominion — and though afterwards her valleys were des- 
tined to run red with the blood of those who yielded up 
their lives upon the altar of their country, the noble hero- 
ism and patriotic example of this man were never forgot- 
ten, and many envied the death of which he died. To them 
it was a glorious martyrdom. 

With Alexandria and Fortress Monroe in possession of 
the Federal Government, the most important passages into 
Virginia had been secured by them. General McDowell was 
charged with the command of the division which had been 
thrown across the Potomac. General Butler was in com- 
mand at Fortress Monroe. The town of Hampton had 
been occupied, and Newport's News, at the mouth of the 
James River, invested by Union trooj)s. General J. B= 



THE FIKST INYASION OF YIEGINIA. 45 

Magruder, who had resigned his commission as Colonel of 
Artillery, in the old army, had been assigned to the com- 
mand of the Confederate forces to operate in that portion 
of Virginia known as the Peninsula. 

Taught to expect at any moment an active engagement, 
either with General McDowell or with Butler on the Penin- 
sula, troops were rapidly sent from Richmond to fill up the 
ranks of the Confederates at both points. The most in- 
tense anxiety prevailed. All the enthusiasm which was to 
us augury of success, could not prevent the soul-sickening 
sorrow with which we bade adieu to the dear ones who 
were to take part in the great tragedy, for which they had 
been rehearsing. 

As regiment after regiment passed through our streets, 
on their way to the theatres of active engagement, cheerful 
adieus were waved from every window, in the flutter of 
snowy handkerchiefs, and bright smiling faces beamed in 
blessing on the soldier — ^but heavy hearts were masked 
beneath those smiles — and as loved forms disappeared from 
view, and the waving of caps was no longer visible, and the 
cheerful shouts were lost upon the ear, and they were gone, 
perhaps forever ! the heavy heart had added weight to its 
load of sorrow, to be borne henceforth, until in the grave it 
should sink beneath the burden, too heavy for long ex- 
istence. 

An old lady, the mother of several dearly loved sons, but 
echoed the almost universal sentiment when she said, (in 
a panic-stricken congregation, just emerging from church 
on the memorable Pawnee Sunday, before mentioned,) 
" War, I know, is very dreadful, but if, by the raising of my 
finger, I could prevent my sons from doing their duty to 
their country now, though I love them as my Hfe, I could 
not do it. I am no coward, nor have I brought up my boys 
to be cowards. They must go if their country needs 
them." 

It is a painful pleasure to recall these things ; to remem- 
ber the coui'ageous fortitude which sustained those called 



46 POSITION OF THE CLERGY. 

to part under such circumstances. It is a sad • pleasure to 
dwell upon the portraitiires which hang around the walls 
of memory, and recall many brifi^ht and youthful faces, as 
the last " good-bye " was shouted from the file of the regi- 
ment, as they pressed on to what was to them the field of 
death, or perhaps the quick, fierce wrench of the hand, the 
sudden embrace, the last fond kiss, and the- loved one was 
gone — gone forever ! 

The change wrought in the apx^earance of Kichmoncl can 
only be understood by those vfho daily witnessed the stir- 
ring scenes which were occurring. One excitement had not 
time to subside before a fresh cause presented itself. 

The arrival of General Beauregard, who had become the 
prominent hero of the people, called forth the most hilari- 
ous demonstrations of admii'ation for his bravery, and the 
most profound respect for his acknowledged genius. For a 
long distance, before the train of cars which bore him reached 
the depot in Richmond, the road was lined with crowds 
who pressed forwa,rd to get a look at the wonderful man of 
Fort Sumter. Loud cheers greeted him, bands of music 
discoursed the popular and now national air, Dixie, and a 
speech was loudly called for, as he descended from the cars. 
But taking a carriage in readiness, he was borne off to his 
hotel, followed by the crowd, keenly anxious to get a better 
sight of Richmond's illustrious guest. No speech could be 
obtained from him ; his modesty equalled his bravery. 



CHAPTER VII. 

POSITION OF THE CLERGY. 



THERE is one class of the citizens of Richmond of whom 
too much cannot be said in praise, to whom too much 
gratitude cannot be accorded. The ministers of the gospel 
of the different religious denominations in the city, will be 



posrriON OF the clergy. 47 

held in lasting remembrance. They sustained our fainting 
hearts by their prayers, and example, and through the trials 
ever accumulating in number and heaviness, during four 
years of war. 

Universally holding sentiments of approval, or acquies- 
cent sympathy in the cause of the South, they carefully 
avoided proclaiming them from the pulpit. No flags^fioated 
from our spires ; military and religious insignia were not 
blended ; our churches, though simple in comstruction and 
material decoration, were sanctified by the presence of the 
Holy Spirit. 

The Eichmond pulpit is filled by men of a superior order 
of talent, of the finest and most varied style of oratory, and 
of unquestionable piety and integrity. In one of our par- 
ishes, the rector is earnest, zealous, devoted, unassuming. 
His style of oratory is vehemently eloquent, and with it 
is blended the urgent, pleasing simplicity of a child. Ac- 
quainted with trial and affliction from personal experience, 
he understands well how to temper his discourses to suit the 
wants and to reach the hearts of all. While the war con- 
tinued, ever anxious for the safety and welfare of his eldest 
son, a bright, promising youth, who, fi'om the beginning, 
was in the field, he preached the peaceable fruits of righte- 
ousness, and inculcated the penitent resignation which 
shone out in his countenance and in every act of his life. 

The writer is here reminded of a period during the war, 
when, at his church, the regular sacrament of the Holy Com- 
munion was to be administered. It was immediately after 
a sanguinary engagement. The rector was absent — an un- 
usual circumstance — and another filled his pulpit. "Where 

can Dr. be?" was whisj^ered from one to another, in 

the congregation. "He has heard," it was answered, "that 
his son has either been killed or dangerously wounded." 
A thrill of heartfelt regret and sympathy pervaded the en- 
tire concourse. With sad and gloomy interest, they listened 
to the clergyman who occupied the desk. The sermon was 
ended, and the priest was about to proceed with the prelim- 



48 POSITION OF THE CLERGY. 

inary exercises of the sacrament, wlien Dr. api^eared 

in the chancel, and assisted in distributing the sacred em- 
blems. The rumor was false, but the brave young man was 
destined in the very last engagement before the surrender 
of the army of General Lee, to receive a wound so danger- 
ous that for days he hovered between life and death, and 
is a cripple, yet he proudly wears the scars so honorably 
won. 

Nor was the Episcopal Church alone noted for the zeal 
and devotion of its clergy. The ministers of the Presbyter- 
ian, Methodist, Baptist and the Roman Catholic Churches 
strengthened the hands and warmed the hearts of their peo- 
ple by wise counsel and tender sympathy. 

Early in the summer of 1862, the bishop of the diocese of 
Virginia-^the venerable William Meade, whose attachment 
to the Union had been of the most indubitable character, 
and whose efforts had been strenuously exerted to pour oil 
upon the waves of angry political tumult — convinced of the 
justice of the reason which had impelled the South to take 
the position it then occupied, left as a legacy of advice to 
the church over which he had watched with so much soUci- 
tude — "Persevere in the separation." The act he had so 
long deprecated had become, as then considered, a neces- 
sity; and in reference to it, his best wishes for his beloved 
church were expressed. 

The political bias of the distinguished diocesan of Vir- 
ginia was well understood to be, at heart, with the South 
in her troubles, although no one saw with more bitter re- 
gret than he the disruption of the Union. It was and is 
still his ardent desire to jareserve to the church the charac- 
ter for conservatism for which it had long been distin- 
guished. Carefully abstaining from intermeddling in 
politics, he looked with anxious solicitude uj^on the strug- 
gle that told so fearfully upon the destinies of the South. 

The efforts of our clergy, when called into exercise in our 
political affairs, were mainly directed to quelling the angry 
passions of the people, raging then with such fearful and 



THE FIRST BATTLE. 49 

determined violence. Lessons of forbearance and charity, 
of resignation under trials, which forced many to wander 
into the temptations of infidelity, were the lessons our di- 
vines were wont to teach. Although there were those 
among them who doffed their clerical vestments and girded 
on the armor of the soldier, it was not with a wish to lead 
in a rebellion in which was involved sin, but from a stern 
sense of divine direction and the whisperings of patriotism, 
to which conscience and an innate feeling of duty prompted 
and would not be stilled. 

None would be so unjust, so lost to every feeling of virtue 
and honor, as to impute to other motives the part taken in 
the late war by the lamented General (Bishop) Polk, around 
whose memory cluster recollections too tender to breathe 
against a name so illustrious for all that is noble in a man, 
a Christian and a soldier, the slightest hint of condemna- 
tion. Nor can any one dare to whisper aught of wrong 
against the name or reputation of the gaUant Captain (Eev- 
erend) Dabney Harrison, of Virginia, who fell at Fort Don- 
elson, whose old father, the Reverend Peyton Harrison, 
after having lost three sons on the field of battle, exclaimed, 
" I have one more to yield up to my country, and when he 
is taken I will then shoulder the musket myself." "The 
leaders " were to be found in all classes, in all professions, 
and in all positions of men at the South. 



CHAPTER Vin. 

THE FIRST BATTLE GREAT BETHEL. 

FROM his former devotion to Virginia as his native 
State and the home of his ancestors for several gene- 
rations, it was thought that our great military chieftain, 
Lieutenant-General Scott, would but prove true to his 
birthplace, and cast his lot with those of his own blood. 
3 



50 THE FIRST BATTLE. 

For a time the disai^x^oiiitment to wliicli his course gave 
rise was keenly and bitterly felt. There were those who 
regarded him as Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of 
pottage, and the former admiration of him as one of our 
statesmen, a son of the Old Dominion, a mihtary genius 
and politician, (not evidenced, indeed, substantially by a 
very creditable vote when he was a candidate for the Presi- 
dency,) was changed into the most profound dislike, — in 
many instances into contempt or disgust. How far this 
may have been justifiable or proper, we must not pretend 
to judge. The devotion of the aged chieftain to the flag 
under which he had won all his laurels, may have rendered 
the Stars and Stripes to him an object of idolatry. Habit 
had grown to second nature with him. Indeed, when all 
hope had expired that he would prove a friend to the South, 
and particularly to his native State, it was said of him, 
"Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone." 

In strong contrast to General Scott were our public men, 
w^ho gave up positions of trust, honor and emolument for 
the precarious chances of success in the struggling cause of 
the South. Conspicuous among these men was the revered, 
the respected, the admired General Robert E. Lee, around 
whose name clusters all that is gTeat and glorious as a man, 
a Christian, a gentleman, a scholar and a soldier. 

The writer's first view of General Lee was at the camp 
of instruction, just above Richmond, where he was witness- 
ing with much interest the dress parade of a splendid com- 
pany of volunteers from that city. No one who has ever 
caught the glance of his dark, bright eyes, can forget the 
expression, and when it rested on this band of brave young 
spirits, it glowed with the generous enthusiasm of his great 
nature. Standing fuUy six feet two, and weighing upward 
of two hundred pounds, Vv^ith no superfluous flesh, his fig-ure 
is straight and erect, his chest massive, his shoulders broad, 
his head poised proudly. His hair, now almost silvery white, 
was then thickly streaked with black, giving it tha^ peculiar 
shade known as iron grey. The inroads made by exposure. 



TIIE FIEST BATTLE. 51 

fatigue and misfortune upon his stalwart frame were only 
too visible at the close of the war; but his iron constitution 
well fitted him to endure the hardships to which he has been 
subjected. 

The clouds continued to thicken and darken around us. 
The sullen growling of the storm approached nearer, but 
we had not yet experienced the shock of contending ar- 
mies. From demonstrations in different sections of our 
State, we knew that the stillness would soon be broken by 
the angry clash of battle. The most serious anxiety for the 
safety of those nearest and dearest to us began to be felt, 
as day after day the time for action drew near. Our most 
earnest attention was directed to the Peninsula. 

At Sewell's Point, eight or ten miles distant from Rich- 
mond, and opposite Newport's News, on the James River,'tEe 
'Confederates had erected a powerful battery, which had 
proved its strength and efficiency in a determined resistance 
to an attack by two Federal steamers. This occurred on 
the 19th of May, and continued for several days, and served 
greatly to encourage and animate our troops on the Penin- 
sula. 

The first serious trial of arms was to be celebrated in 
lower Virginia. On the 10th of June the contending forces 
came into collision at Great Bethel Church, which is on the 
road leading south from the village of Hampton. This was 
one of those primitive structures visible in almost any part 
of Virginia, which recall the memory of the colonial times, 
when the approach to these edifices was guarded by pickets 
to prevent interruption from hostile savages. 

Here the Confederates, to the number of about eighteen 
hundred, under Colonel J. B. Magruder, were strongly in- 
trenched. They were attacked by a Federal force of over 
four thousand, under General Pierce, of Massachusetts. 
The attack was received by a battery of the Richmond How- 
itzers, under command of the gallant Major Randolph. He 
began the action with a shot from a Parrott gun, aimed by 
himself. It was chiefly an artillery eugagement, but the 



/V(J%1?^^ 






52 THE FIEST BATTLE. 

most striking incident of the day was the charge of the 
First North Carohna Kegiment of Infantry, under Captain 
Bridges, which the- young volunteers accompHshed with the 
coolness of veterans, in the face of a terrible artillery fire; 
and when within sixty yards of the foe rushed on at the 
double-quick. Before this small but valorous band of men 
our enemies fell back with astonishment. They continued to 
fire rapidly, but in so wild a manner as to fail of effect upon 
our batteries. It was said that at no time during the en- 
gagement could the bodies of the Federal troops be seen" by 
the Confederates, and the shots of the latter were mainly 
aimed in the direction of the glistening bayonets. For four 
and a half hours they continued the brisk fire of shot and 
shell, from six and twelve pounders, at a distance of six 
hundred yards only; and the loss to us from their artillery 
was one mule ! 

During all this time, it is said every shot fired by the 
Confederates was aimed with deliberation. The fire was 
always suspended whenever the forces of the enemy were 
not within range. 

After an intermission in the assault, the Federals were 
reinforced by a heavy column in reserve, under the comr 
mand of Major Winthrop, aid to General Butler. Those in 
advance deceived the Confederates by donning their dis- 
tinctive badge, a white band around .the cap. They also 
cried out repeatedly, "Don't fire!" thinking by. this ruse 
to find our forces unprepared, and thus to accompHsh their^ 
defeat. They soon, however, discovered their mistake. The 
brave boys from North Carolina were not so easily deceived 
and disconcerted. With veteran coolness they repelled the 
foe, and in their anxiety to make perfect work of their de- 
molition, it was difficult for their officers to restrain them. 

Terrified, and in disorder, the enemy fell back, and the 
final rout succeeded. Just then a bullet from the rifle of a 
North Carolinian pierced the breast of the brave young 
Federal officer, Major Winthrop, whose gallant exposure of 



THE FIKST BATTLE. 53 

himself in the field had made him a conspicuous target for 
the shots of the riflemen. Colonel D. H. Hill, who com- 
manded the North Carohna regiment, in his official report 
of that engagement, says: 

"Major "Wintlirop was the only one of the enemy who exhibited even 
an approximation to courage during the whole day. A contemporary 
remarks : ' The fact was, he had fallen under ckcumstances of great 
gallantry. He was shot while standing on a log, waving his sword, and 
vainly attempting to rally his men to the charge. His enemy did honor 
to his memory, and the Southern people, who had been* unable to appre- 
ciate the courage of Ellsworth, and turned with disgust from his apotheosis 
in the North, did not fail to pay the tribute due a truly brave man, who 
without the sensational circumstance of a private brawl or a bully's 
adventure, was soon forgotten at the North. ' " 

During the entire engagement, the Confederates lost but 
one, a gallant young North Carolinian, Henry L. Wyatt, 
who volunteered to be one of four to set fire to a small 
wooden house, which gave, it was thought, some protection 
to the enemy. Running in advance of his companions, as 
he passed fearlessly between the two fires, he fell, pierced 
in the forehead by a musket ball, when within thirty yards 
of the house. He was the first of the Confederate dead, 
on the field of battle. 

The result of this battle served still further to increase 
the confidence of the South in the ultimate success of the 
cause for which they were fighting. The conduct of the 
Confederate officers on this day is said to have been marked 
"by the utmost coolness and bravery. That of Colonel ^Hill 
was evident from the success of his regiment. Colonel 
MagTuder, occasionally excited and impetuous, as it is his 
custom to be, calmly smoked his cigar, and gave his orders 
with coolness and deliberation. 

It was, however, received by many as another singular 
interposition of divine Providence in favor of the South, 
and the wavering irresolution and evident want of courage 
on the part of the Federals increased the opinion which had 



54 THE FIRST BATTLE. 

already gamed a foothold in tlie minds of tlie people, tliat 
"the Yankees would not fight." 

One of the Richmond papers, noticing the inaccuracy of 
aim on the part of the enemy, offered suggestions, by which, 
when the Southern papers found their way to the North, 
the foe profited. 

At first, as in the engagement at Bethel, the Federals 
fired too low, and our men were wounded in the feet; and 
then they fired too high, and our men were not wounded at 
all. Of all of 'this they were informed through our tattling 
sheets, and it became to them " the word to the wise," as 
the roll of honor of the Confederate wounded and dead 
afterwards evidenced only too plainly. 

In connection with the camp at Grreat Bethel Church, it 
is pleasant to recall an account given by a young officer of 
the Richmond Howitzer Battalion, of a novel religious exer- 
cise in front of that ancient house of worship. 

Our army was at first ratl?er poorly sui)plied with chap- 
lains. The. troops on the Peninsula were frequently served 
by Reverend Mr. Adams, a clergyman of the Baptist Church, 
who had been driven from Hampton when that village was 
occupied by the Federals. He was a Bostonian by birth, 
but had lived for many years in Baltimore as pastor of a 
church in that city, and thoroughly satisfied with the jus- 
tice of the Southern cause, he embarked in it his talents 
and influence. He had already suffered much for con- 
science sake, having attempted from time to time to return 
to Hampton to visit the poor of his charge, who had been 
unable to leave the place, when evacuated by the citizens on 
the approach of the enemy. He was at last informed that 
any further attempt to pursue the work of the ministry, 
would be punished by imprisonment and he was compelled to 
abandon his labor of usefulness and love. 

On one occasion, as this young officer informs us, Mr. 
Adams dVove up in his buggy, in front of old Bethel 
Church; and finding that his congregation of soldiers would 
be much too large to be admitted within the building, he 



THE FIRST BATTLE. 55 

made use of his buggy for a pulpit, and in tlie open air dis- 
coursed to Ms immense audience. He announced as the 
opening hymn, the familiar one beginning: 

"Am I a soldier of tlie Cross?" 

And after reading the Hues through, raised a very familiar 
tune, in which he was joined by a score of manly voices. 

"The effect," said the narrator of the incident, "I will 
not attempt to describe; I have not the power of language 
to di*aw the picture." 

Then kneehng in the buggy, ^Mi'. Adams offered up a 
prayer fervid with the devotion of a Christian, and such as 
the scene before him and the necessities of the hour called 
forth. Then, after reading a suitable iDortion of the Scrip- 
tures, he announced as the theme of his discourse the pass- 
age, " Fight the good fight of faith;" and in the humble and 
simple eloquence which characterized his style, he exhorted 
his hearers to enter upon the work to which they had been 
so sing-ularly called, full of the ardor of Christian faith, and 
in humble reliance on the assistance of God through the 
mercy of the Eedeemer. 

His audience listened attentively, impressed with the di- 
vine truths which fell from his hps. Manly emotion was 
visible on many countenances, and when he raised his hands 
and voice in prayer for a blessing on his message to the sol- 
dier, there were few hearts that were not touched, and few 
heads that were not bowed. 

" I shall never forget," said our informant, " the impres- 
sions made upon my mind and heart by the singular ser- 
vices in fi'ont of Great Bethel. In the most superb edifice, 
where all the pomp and pageantry of the most imposing 
ceremonies are observed, I could never be so impressed with 
the beauties of the Christian rehgion as on this sim]Dle oc- 
casion." \ -\ 
rWSMjc. Adams continued to serve as a Chaplain on the Pe- 
ninsula until after its evacuation by the Confederate forces, 
when he was most unfortunately detained, and thus was 



56 DISASTER IN V/ESTEEN VIRGINIA. 

'i caused his arrest by the Federals and imprisonment in the 
Kip Kaps, where he was confined for several months, re- 
peatedly refusing the oath which was required of him, until 
the weakness of human nature could no longer resist the 
appeals of a suffering wife and little children, who were en- 
tirely at the mercy of hostile troops, for food and shelter. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DISASTER IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 

THE smoke of battle had scarcely cleared away, and the 
shouts of victory died upon the ear, after the animat- 
ing contest at i&reat Bethel, before the news of disaster to 
our forces in "Western Virginia came to dampen the ardor 
arising from our recent successes. "We were to be blessed 
no longer with bloodless victories. The trial of soul had 
begun. 

The Confederate camp at Philippi had been surprised 
and dispersed. This disaster, as stated in the Richmond 
Dispatch, was caused by a sentinel sleeping on his post. 
Intimations of a contemplated attack upon the Confederate 
camp had been conveyed to them by two heroic women, 
who rode thirty miles on horseback in the night to warn 
them of the approach of the Federals, but too late to pre- 
vent the confusion that followed. By this misfortune to the 
Confederates these valorous women were cut off from their 
homes, and without a change of apparel were compelled to 
come on to Richmond, where they remained until they could 
conveniently return to their former places of abode. 

The defeat at Rich Mountain occurred a few days after 
the dispersion at Philippi, and Colonel John Pegram and 
his entire command of sixteen hundred men were cap- 
tured. 



DISASTER IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. . 57 

Nor witli this was ttie measure of disaster in Western 
Vii'ginia complete. General Garnett was in command of all 
tlie forces in the northwestern section of the State. With 
only about three thousand men he had intrenched himself 
at Laurel Hill ; but from the well-intentioned blunders of 
inexperienced officers and men, and from the defeat of 
Colonel Pegram at Eich Mountain, he was compelled to re- 
treat, which he managed to do in good order. Closely 
pressed by the enemy until he reached the second ford of 
Cheat River, being himself in the rear, his riderless horse 
announced to the yanguard that their brave commander 
had fallen.' At Carrick's Ford, where he was killed, the en- 
emy abandoned the pursuit, and the Confederates succeeded 
in forming a junction with the force under General Jack- 
son. 

Although the numbers in killed, wounded and missing 
were comj)aratively so small, this disaster was truly discour- 
aging, as it caused the surrender of a very important 
portion of Northwestern Virginia, and was keenly felt as 
the very first check to Southern arms. Our troops had not, 
however, shown any failure in courage; and the fatigue en- 
dured by them in the undertaking, and the success of the 
retreat had not then a parallel in the history of the war. 
But the deepest regret was experienced at the untimely end 
of the gallant General Garnett. He Was the first officer of 
high rank who had fallen in battle in the Confederate army, 
and his death cast the deepest gloom over the hearts of the 
many who loved and honored him for his bravery and no- 
bility of spirit. He was a native of Essex County, Virginia, 
and belonged to an old and highly respectable family, num- 
bering in its connection several men of distinguished talent 
arid position. He had himself received a military educa- 
tion, and was thought to possess the genius which would 
insure him success in his profession. 

There is no denying that these reverses were the cause of 
much anxiety to the Southern people, and for the first time 
a gloom spread over the souls of many whose sanguine 



68 DISASTEB IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 

temperaments precluded tlie idea of possibility of defeat to 
Soutliern arms. 

But the Richmond people, although they inight for a few 
days be bowed down by defeat, were generally reassured by 
the very accommodating press, which conveniently and 
wisely, doubtless, appropriated the proverb, "What cannot 
be cured must be endured;" and thus succeeded in allaying 
the usual discouragement and mistrust arising from petty 
defeats and disappointments. 

We had, however, very little time to devote to the luxury 
of lamentation over our fallen brave, or to the sad misfor- 
tunes to our cause in Western Virginia. The sad strains of 
mournful music, the dull sounds of the muffled drum, as 
borne in the procession of the lamented Garnett, were only 
just lost in the busy hum of every-day hfe in Hichmond, 
when our attention was called to the condition of things in 
a different portion of the State. Over the Potomac, and 
especially in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, which had been 
evacuated by the Federals, the war-clouds hung heavily and 
ominously, and it seemed altogetlier evident to us that it 
could not be long ere the dark and sombre masses would 
burst upon us in the lurid lightnings an i hoarse thunders 
of battle. We knew that somewhere in that section of Vir- 
ginia would be enacted fierce scenes of sanguinary strife. 
July, 1861, opened upon us with a knowledge of the fact 
that two of the largest armies that the continent of America 
had ever seen were ranged in hostile defiance, and awaited 
with anxiety the signal to measure the relative strength of 
the North and South. All hearts were directed to that 
portion of the State over which the storm must soon break. 

Our women for a time suspended the busy operations of 
the needle, and set aside the more expeditious and labor- 
saving sewing machine, to apply themselves more industri- 
ously to the preparation of lint, the rolling of bandages, 
and the many other nameless necessaries which the signs of 
the times made apparent would soon be in requisition for 
the unforLiuiates which the chances of battle v/ould send 



THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 59 

among us mutilated and helpless. No longer the sempstress, 
every woman of Kichmond began to prepare herself for the 
more difficult and responsible duties of the nurse. What 
pen. can describe in fitting terms the history of the anxious 
hearts hidden behind the busy exterior, in those labors 
which patriotism dignified into duty, and which were light- 
ened by cheerfulness and love ? What pencil can paint the 
rainbow tints that glowed in the briny tear as it fell upon 
the snowy XDile of lint which accumulated under the hands 
of her who had laid her heart's idol upon the altar of her 
country? What imagination can picture the* midnight experi- 
ences of the restless, anxious ones from whose eyelids sleep 
had fled, as day after day and night after night brought 
nearer and nearer the dreaded day, which might close over 
in the darkness of death all we held most dear ? Who can 
enumerate the prayers wafted on every breath, which in the 
humble and simple language of the publican went up con- 
tinually in the cry, " Lord have mercy?" 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS ITS EFFECT IN RICHMOND. 

WE had not long to wait. Full soon for the anxious 
hearts that dreaded the precarious chances of battle 
■ came the tidings of sanguinary strife. The first movement 
of the "Grand Army," in the memorable "On to Rich- 
mond " programme, had been made. From the superiority 
of its numbers and appointments it was regarded but an 
easy undertaking for this body of men to open the way to 
the stronghold of the Confederates, and plant once more 
upon their Capitol the " Stars and Stripes." Nothing was 
omitted or forgotten in the boastings of our enemies to ren- 
der us sensible of our own miserable weakness, or to dis- 
courage us in the attempt to measure strength with a foe so 
powerful, 



60 THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 

On the 18th of July, on the tiny stream of Bull Run, in 
the essay of the enemy to force a passage, occurred the 
short but brilliant engagement which served only as the 
overture to the grand battle of the coming Sabbath, on the 
plains of Manassas. It was but a trial tilt, from which both 
armies retired to recruit their energies for the anticipated 
contest, which might perhaps decide the questions that had 
given rise to the national quarrel and the existence or non- 
existence of the Southern Confederacy as a distinct nation- 
ality. The gauntlet had been thrown down, the fight had 
begun in earnest, and the issue perhaps hung on the bal- 
ance of events to be developed in the coming battle. As 
two lions at bay, after the first shock of encounter, pause, 
panting, to recover breath, so these two mighty armies, in 
full view of each other, paused in the horrid work of de- 
struction, bore away their wounded, buried or removed 
their dead, and made ready to resume hostilities. Three 
days had passed since the Federals were repulsed at Bull 
Eun. 

General Scott, to whom was intrusted the plan of battle, 
had ordered General McDowell to advance on Manassas on 
Sunday the 21st of July. The quiet Sabbath morning was 
bright and beautiful ; the quietude soon to be broken by 
the fierce clash of arms, and its brightness to be dimmed by 
the smoke of battle, and the incense rising from human 
blood. 

An eloquent eye-witness says: "The plain, broken and 
wooded, bounded on all sides, as far as the eye could reach, 
by the azure Hues of the Blue Ridge, was gay with the 
bright uniforms, the parti-colored flags, the glistening 
armor of the soldiers. The strains of music, which on any 
other day might have been those which called the masses 
together for a holiday festival, now sounded the note for the 
onset, and soon all was forgotten save the one desire for 
victory — the panting for human victims, which would decide 
the fortunes of the day." 

"On to Richmond!" was the battle-cry of the Federals— 



THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 61 

" Independence, or Death !" tlie watch -word of the Con- 
federates. 

More than once the lines of the Confederates were seen 
•to waver. If their enemies had prudently taken advan- 
tage of this, they might have been driven ingloriously from 
the field. With sudden desperation, they felt themselves 
forced back by overwhelming odds, but, manfully contesting 
every inch of ground, they succeeded in circumventing the 
flanking columns of the enemy. 

It was at this particular hour in the history of that 
memorable day, that General Bee, when nearly over- 
powered by force of superior numbers pressing cruelly upon 
him, pathetically exclaimed to General Thomas J. Jackson, 
" General, they are beating us back J" and there was given 
him that immortal reply, " Sir, we will give them the bayo- 
net !" General Bee rall3dng his over-charged troops, cried: 
" See ! there is Jackson standing like a stone-wall. Let us 
determine to die here, and we will conquer !" and the next 
hour yielded up his life in the sublime endeavor. 

There, amid the flames and smoke of battle, the thunders 
of artillery, the rattling of musketry, the confusion worse 
confounded ever attendant upon such a scene, but a little 
while before he sealed his own martyrdom in the service of 
his country, the brave and chivalrous Bee, from the deter- 
mined valor, and imperturbable coolness evinced by him 
on this occasion, rebaptized his companion in arms, the 
quiet Jackson, " Stonewall !" Not from sacerdotal hands, 
with the holy water, typical of the washing of regeneration, 
but with fire that consumes all dross, and with blood, with- 
out the shedding of which there is no remission for sins — 
he derived this name, which through all time must give to 
that of Jackson the glory of immortality; and with it will 
be handed down to remotest ages, that of the self-consti- 
tuted priest — the martyx: Bee ! 

For a time the weights seemed so evenly adjusted, 
that the balance for success scarcely rocked the beam; 
but the Confederates, fortunately reinforced about two 



G2 THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 

P. M., by G-eneral Kirby Smitb, rallied to the charge, and 
soon bad the happiness of seeing the enemy disorganized, 
and flying before their victorious columns. 

The retreat became a rout. In reckless disorder, disen- 
cumbered of arms and baggage, the enemy fired in fran- 
tic confusion, as if they were chased by demons, rather than 
men; nor did they pause in their flight until within the 
friendly intrenchments of Washington they could collect 
their scattered courage. The result of the battle had been 
altogether unexpected to them. Confident of success, and 
as the movement was generally known in Washington, 
Congress had adjourned to allow its members an opportun- 
ity of witnessing the scenes of the battle-field. Visitors and 
camp followers of all grades and descriptions, and even some 
fashionable women, followed in the rank of the Grand Army 
to be present at the " rout of the rebels." " On to Kich- 
mond," they were bent. The idea of defeat had never been 
permitted to cross their minds. It was thought only neces- 
sary for the impudent rebels to come to a knowledge of the 
appointments of the Grand Ai-my, and they would be dis- 
persed Hke a flock of frightened sheep, or melt before their 
victorious legions, as in the summer sun. 

We had indeed won a splendid victory; but not with little 
cost. Our loss was considerable, and among the number 
who fell, were some of our bravest and best, and the laurels 
of victory were entwined with the cypress. General Bee, 
whose death brought grief to all the South, was a native of 
South Carolina; a graduate of West Point, and had served 
with distinction in the war with Mexico; winning two 
brevets, the last that of captain, for gallant and meritorious 
conduct at the storming of Chapultepec. Georgia was 
called upon to mourn the death of her illustrious son. Col- 
onel Francis S. BartoA; who received his death-wound in 
the same charge in which the gallant South Carohnian was 
killed. He was chairman of the Military Committee in the 
Provisional Congress, which body noticed his untimely yet 
glorious death in a public tribute of much eloquence and 
solemnity. 



THE BATTLE OF IVLiNASSAS. 63 

From outward appearances in Riclimond on tlie Sabbath 
of the battle of Manassas, no one would have supposed that 
any event of unusual importance had occurred, or was an- 
ticipated. The churches were all open, and towards them 
were bent the steps of throngs of worshipers. But the in- 
terior of the churches presented an aspect until late foreign 
to them. As the eye glanced over the concoui'se assembled 
within, one was struck at once with the great majority of 
females; and as here and there a well-known manly form 
was missed, and the question, "Where is he?" would arise 
involuntarily, the echoing answer from the heart was, 
*' Where ?" and a silent prayer for the safety of loved ones 
was uttered. 

At St. Paul's Church it was noticed that Mr. Davis was 
absent on that day. All who knew anything of the situa- 
tion of the Ai'my of the Potomac surmised where he was, 
and the cause of his absence from his accustomed place on 
the Sabbath. He had left Richmond that morning, accom- 
panied by his Staff, to visit the scene of conflict, at which 
he arrived, it is said, when the fortunes of victory for the 
Confederate forces seemed doubtful. But his presence 
along the hues infused fresh energy into the broken and 
dispirited troops, and wherever he made his appearance 
loud shouts of cheering welcome greeted him. He was 
there when the victory was decided, to congratulate the 
Generals who had conducted the mighty battle, and to 
thank the soldiers who had won such renown for the Con- 
federate arms. 

During the progress of these events the utmost quiet and 
calmness pervaded the city of Richmond. The news of the 
great victory was received by -the Southern people with no 
violent manifestations of joy. To a partial observer the 
Confederate capital might have been considered unmoved 
by the stirring news. There were no bonfires kindled, no 
bells rung, no cannon fired, none of the parade which the 
event might have been expected to call forth; nor the inde- 
cent exultation which the low, vulgar and vicious might 



64 THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 

have indulged in. But, to use the language of another, 
"there was what superficial observation might not have ap- 
prehended and could not have appreciated, — a deep, seri- 
ous, thrilling enthusiasm, which swept thousands of hearts, 
which was too solemn for wild huzzas, and too thoughtful 
to be uttered in the eloquence of ordinary words. The 
tremulous tones of deep emotion, the silent grasp of the 
hand, the faces of men catching the deep and 'burning en- 
thusiasm of unuttered feehngs from each other, composed 
an eloquence to which words would have been a mockery. 
Shouts would have marred the general joy. The manner 
of the reception of the news in Richmond was characteris- 
tic of the conservative and poised spirit of the government 
and people. The only national recognition of the victory 
was the passage of resolutions in the Provisional Congress 
acknowledging the interposition and mercies of Providence 
in the affairs of the Confederacy, and recommending thanks- 
giving services in all the churches on the ensuing Sabbath." 

The victory had been won by too much that was sorrow- 
ful to many of our people, for others, in the forgetfulness of 
the moment, to shock the tender sensibilities of the mourn- 
ers by exultation. Many of our bravest and best had thus 
early fallen; and many a youth in whom were centred the 
brightest hopes of fond and ambitious friends, was cut down 
before those hopes had their fulfillment in manhood. Many 
over whom the crown of early manhood had settled in dig- 
nity were consigned 'to the grave of the soldier, and cut off 
fi'om the hfe of usefulness to which nature had assigned 
them. 

The Monday succeeding the battle was as different from 
the preceding day as one day in mid-summer could differ 
from another. The warm, bright, quiet Sabbath was fol- 
lowed by thunder and hghtning and a storm" of wind and 
rain, which fell in such profusion that the wind seemed to 
drift the torrents in liquid sheets, and twist them in fitful, 
fantastic eddies, rarely noticeable. We remember with 
gratitude the heavy rain of the 22d of July, 1861, and like 



RICHMOND A HOSPITAL. 65 

to regard it as especially sent for the relief of the wounded 
of the bloody battle of Manassas, — it matters not for what 
they fought, nor whence they hailed. The suffering and 
helpless are never enemies. 



CHAPTER XI. 

RICHMOND A HOSPITAL — ARRIVAL OF PRISONERS. 

THE condition of Richmond for the reception of the 
wounded was poor indeed. Our hospital accommoda- 
tions at that time are scarcely worthy to be mentioned; but 
these wants were amply atoned for by the generous, hospit- 
able patriotism of the citizens, who threw open theii' doors 
and were only too happy to take into their houses, for 
proper care and nursing, the wounded defenders of their 
homes and firesides. Almost every house in the city was a 
private hospital, and almost every woman a nui'se. 

Every delicacy of the soil and season, and the treasures 
of the pantry and cellar, (unused then except for the 
sick, ) were cheerfully brought forth to regale the wounded 
soldier. The daily watch and the nightly vigil by the couch 
of the suffering became the constant employment of the 
women of Richmond, and we cannot wonder, when we re- 
member their ceaseless seK-sacrifice and patient endurance, 
that there arose from the hearts of every Southern soldier 
a hearty " God bless the women of Virginia !" 
. But there was still another class of sufferers thrown upon 
us by the results of the battle of Manassas, about whom, 
perhaps, it were as well to say nothing; Uut our recollec- 
tions of this period would be by no means perfect could we 
forget or pass unnoticed those taken captive by our forces. ■ 
If our hospital accommodations for the sick and wounded 
of our own army were inadequate, we may surely be par- 
•doned for not having comfortable accommodations for the 



66 EICHMOND A HOSPITAL. 

l^risoners. Tobacco warehouses and otlier buildings used 
for similar purposes bad to be made the receptacles for the 
men taken captive at tbat time ; and if, as too surely must 
have been tbe case, tbey proved unfitted and insufficient in 
size to accommodate witb any sort of comfort tlie many 
crowded ip., by the exigencies of their singular appearance 
among us, it was simply because at tbat time no other 
disposition could be made of them, and surely with no de- 
sign nor des-ire to inflict useless and cowardly torture on 
unarmed men, who, as prisoners of war, by all the rules of 
honor are entitled to due consideration as such. Any posi- 
tive violation of these duties, is a violation of the holiest 
obligations which can exist between nations. Notwithstand- 
ing all the odium which is cast upon the Southern people 
for the maltreatment of prisoners, and the infamy which at- 
taches to the names of Libby Prison and Belle Island, we 
learn from authority which we cannot permit ourselves to 
believe would be guilty of a base prevarication, that, univer- 
sally, the prisoners confined in those prisons in Richmond 
received rations always as good as those furnished to our 
soldiers in the field, and often of superior quality; while the 
sick and wounded received the usual rations furnished the 
sick and wounded Confederates in the hospitals. And for 
the acts of cruelty accredited to the South in the treatment 
of prisoners, we trust that- a generous public will admit the 
cases were exceptional and not general, and the evidence in- 
fluenced by sectional feeling. It could not be supposed that 
the sympathies of the people, and of the women especially, 
would be very strikingly called forth, towards those who 
came amongst us as invaders, nor that they would be par- 
ticularly careful in seeking them out and lavishing upon 
them the attentions demanded by the suffering defenders of 
their own country. 

Yet never, during the four years of the war in Richmond, 
even when the most unqualified success shone upon the for- 
tunes of the Confederate cause, was there, to the mortifi- 
cation of the numerous prisoners who from time were 



RICHMOND A HOSPrTAL. 67 

marclied through our streets,* any manifestations of hatred 
to the unfortunates, or triumph over a fallen foe, noticed by 
the writer. 

Among the prisoners taken at the battle of Manassas and 
sent to Eichmond, the most noted were the brave Irishmen, 
Colonel Corcoran, (whom we are induced now to wonder 
ever fought against us,) and Captain Eicketts, of the famous 
Sherman's Battery, (captured by the Confederates,) a most 
gallant and accomi^lished officer. Much sympathy was ex- 
pressed for the latter, and this was increased by a knowl- 
edge of the fact that his faithful and devoted wife, who, 
having heard in Washington that her husband had lost his 
life in the battle, went to procure the body, but finding that 
he had been dangerously wounded and carried to Eich- 
mond, sought and obtained permission to join him there, 
where she nursed him faithfully and affectionately until he 
had recovered sufficiently to be removed, and finally ex- 
changed. 

In the excited and hostile feeling of the peoj^le of the 
South at that time, togeth-er with the distress she must 
have experienced in the sufferings of her husband, her po- 
sition in the prison hospital, in which her husband lay, was 
by no means an enviable one, and called forth the deepest 
sympathies from many of the ladies of Eichmond, who, 
through a feeling of delicacj^ forbore the expression of it, 
and indeed could have done but little for her relief * 

In connection with Captain Eicketts, we are amusingly 
reminded of the many claimants to the honor of the cap- 
ture of Sherman's Battery, under his command. 

So many regiments, so many companies, so many brig- 
ades claimed to have been the happy heroes who took pos- 
session of the invincible, death-dealing battery, that it has 
grown to quite as much a mooted question who took Sher- 
man's Battery as who was the enviable hero that struck 
"BOly Patterson." 

Eichmond was then one vast general hospital. Our sur- 

* Though our enemies say differently. 



68 INCrDENTS OF BATTLE. 

geons were kept constantly busy in the rounds of their pro- 
fession, and we were told, as far as it was in their power, — 
except where the Hfe of a patient was endangered by it, — 
they practiced the principles of conservative surgery, 
although much blame has been attached to the surgeons 
of both armies for reckless waste and sacrifice of human 
hmbs. 

Their most efficient coadjutors were the women. It is a 
matter of intense astonishment, when we reflect that those 
who had ever felt and exhibited nervous dread and sensibil- 
ity at the sight of human suffering, who would faint at wit- 
nessing a bleeding wound, when duty made it ap^Darent to 
them that they should tutor 'themselves in alleviating mis- 
ery, grew strong under the painful tuition of these di'ead- 
ful scenes, and became able to look upon and dress even 
the most ghastly wounds. The tenderness which ever 
accompanied their gentle ministrations inade -them pecu- 
Harly grateful to the suffering soldier, and rendered him 
many times the braver hero, when recovered and in the field 
again. 



' CHAPTER Xn. 

INCIDENTS OF BATTLE 

WITH the many painful incidents of this battle there 
are connected some so beautifully touching, that 
with the utmost pleasure we turn from the sickening 
thoughts awakened by the remembrance of carnage and 
death to these revivals of a better nature, a hoHer principle 
within, of which every man, when not under the influence of 
the whirlwind of angry passion, must be in a measure pos- 
sessed. After the battle is over and the dreadful work is 
accomplished, we find friends and foes commingHng in 
offices of kindness, in ministrations of mercy to the wound- 
ed and dying. 



INCIDENTS OF BATTLE. (59 

Belonging to one of tlie cavalry companies of the Con- 
federates there was ^ young man distinguished for his schol- 
arship as well as for deep-toned jpietj and conscientious 
integrity. As he rode off the field, which to him had been 
the scene of much that was terrible as well as much that 
was sublime and glorious, he passed an enemy wounded and 
very near death. Raising his hand feebly, he made signs 
for the rider to stop and dismount. The young soldier pro- 
fessor (for the cavah-yman occupied a professor's chair in 
one of the colleges of Virginia) ahghted from his horse and 
bent over the dying man. 

Gasping for breath he said, ".Stranger, do you ever pray?" 

" I do," replied the Confederate. 

" You see fi'om my dress I am in the ranks of your ene- 
mies, but" — and he stretched out his feeble hand and clasped 
that of the man who had bent over him — " can you, will you 
pray for me, — will you pray for a dying man ?" 

"I will," answered the professor; " I know you no longer 
as an enemy, and even though I felt you to be one, God has 
given me a heart to pray for our enemies." And kneel- 
ing beside the dying Yankee, the Christian professor offered 
up to God a prayer that to the man before him might be 
granted gi'ace and fortitude to make hght and easy the 
passage of "the dark valley of the shadow of death," 
and for forgiveness and mercy on the soul which in go 
short a time must be in the full presence of its Maker, 
through the atonement of Jesus Christ the Son of the Most 
High. 

When the prayer was ended and he looked upon the dy- 
ing man, the faint breath was growing shorter and shorter, 
and he watched beside him until he saw the last flickering 
of the flame of hfe die away in the socket, and disposing of 
the body of the dead man to those who promised to give it 
a decent burial, being compelled to rejoin his company, he 
mounted his horse and rode on, a wiser, a better and a hap- 
pier man, for having been able to soothe the spirit of his 
dying enemy. 



70 INCIDENTS OF BATTLE. 

From a Federal officer, a native of Scotland, we heard 
an affecting story of kindness and linmanity extended to 
a wounded Confederate. 

" On the retreat," said he, " as I pressed on rapidly, my 
attention was attracted to a wounded Confederate, a mere 
boy, who could not have been over fifteen years of age. He 
had a bright, beautiful countenance, though disfigured by 
the dust and smoke of battle. Raising his hand to attract 
my attention, he moaningly gasped, 'Water! water!' Not 
having time to stop, I took up the slight figure in my arms, 
and from my canteen poured down his throat some water 
and whiskey. Being for a moment revived, he opened his 
eyes, almost glazing in death, and when they rested on my 
uniform he cried, ' Are you a Yankee ?' 

"I belong to that army," I rephed. 

" With an imploring look, which will haunt me to my dy- 
ing day, the poor boy continued, ' You are a Yankee ? Will 
you kill me? Will you kill me?' 'No, poor boy, I will 
kill you no sooner than I would one of my own children ; I 
would do you no harm. Reassured, a look of gratitude 
stole over his beautitul countenance, but being pressed by 
the pursuers, and not wishing to fall a prisoner into the 
hands of the Confederates, I laid my charge, which in so 
short a time had found a warm place in my heart, under- 
neath the shade of a tree, and there I was compelled to 
leave him. He must have died, for I knew he was very near 
death when I held his bleeding body in my arms." 

Then, as if the rushing tide of memory brought once 
more before his vision the countenance of the dying, youth- 
ful soldier, he murmured: "No, I can never, never forget 
that look bent on me as he said, ' Will you kill me V " And 
thoughtfully shaking his head, " Such work didn't suit me, 
and in another department of the army, where I was not 
compelled to witness such scenes of suffering and bloodshed, 
I engaged my services." 

A young man said: "I owe my life to being kicked by my 
gun. I had fired five rounds, and was about to fire my 



INCIDENTS or BATTLE. 71 

sixth, when the gun recoiled, and striking me directly on 
the nose, my head was thrown back some inches, when just 
at the moment a bullet came whizzing past me, and what is 
known as the wind of the ball deprived me of breath; but if 
it had not been for the force of the recoil of my gun, the ball 
would have passed directly through my brain." So much 
was he stunned by "the wind of the ball" he alluded to, 
that for several weeks he lay a helpless invahd, and there 
have been many cases of death from a similar cause, when 
ujDon the body could not be found a perceptible bruise. 

There is a sad story connected with this peculiar period, 
of woman's devotion and man's weakness and infidehty, in 
which there is blended so much romance, it might, with 
careful illustration and embellishment, be used as the foun- 
dation upon which to build up a tale of real life, in which 
truth would be stranger than fiction. We cannot certifiy to 
the truth of it, but will only relate it as it was related to us. 

At Bristow Station, very near Manassas Junction, there 
were sojourning numerous ladies, whose husbands and 
fi-iends, fathers and brothers, perhaps, were in the army 
near by. Just a few days before the engagement, probably 
about the time of the battle of Bull Eun, a young girl ap- 
peared at the hotel, plainly di'essed, and having with her 
very mean looking baggage, but with the manners and ad- 
dress of a lady, and there registered an assumed name. 
Her appearance and manners, so much at variance, awak- 
ened the suspicion and attention of her companions, (to 
whose sex is imputed an undue share of these qualities,) 
and carefully watching her movements, they determined to 
ascertain something of the motives which brought her thith- 
er at that time, when only the most intense anxiety for those 
near and dear induced them to remain in such close prox- 
imity to the dangers which threatened them. 

For several days the mystery which was connected with 
her increased, and added interest to her incognito. At last, 
after the battle was over, api3lying to a lady who had a 
Hst of the casualties, she, being not supplied with one. 



72 INCIDENTS OF BATTLE. 

asked that the lady woiild read the names of the killed and 

wounded in a certain battalion from , State of . 

Heading the list was the name of Captain , badly 

wounded and removed to Richmond. Turning deadly pale, 
the poor young girl reeled, and would have fallen but for 
the sustaining arm of the lady, which was kindly thrown 
around her. 

When sufficiently recovered, the lady said, "What is it ? 

tell me — is this Captain your husband? — your lover? 

— or why are you so interested in him?" 

She continued then, " You are not what you seem to be. 
I have thought so fi'om the moment I first saw you. These 
coarse clothes are surely not your own. Who are you? and 
where are you from ? and why are you here, so young, and 
alone ?" 

With kindly interest and real sympathy these questions 
were asked. 

"Go with me to my room, and I will tell you aU. It is a 
long story. I cannot relate it here," said the young girl. 

When in the room of the unknown young girl, she began 
— "You are right; 1 am not what I seem. My home is in 

the far South, in the city of . I had been for some 

months betrothed to Captain , and he had urged our 

marriage. But I was young, and objected to it at the time, 
and after a while troubles arose between us. The engage- 
ment was broken off, and I pretended to be heartless and 
careless, until I found he was to leave me, and be exposed to 
all the dangers and misfortunes of war. He had seemed to 
neglect me, and thus incurred the indignation of my father 
and family. I had been forbidden to meet him, or in any 
wise to notice him. But I sought him, intending a reconcil- 
iation, and if he stiU loved me and wished me to marry him, 
to let him bear with him to the field of war the remembrance 
and love of his bride. 

" I was too late. So hurriedly were the soldiers sent off 
to this State, he was compelled to leave with his regiment, 
not daring, I presume, to seek me after knowing the prohi- 



INCIDEiS"TS OF BATTLE. 73 

bition of my father to his house, and with no assurance 
from me that I shared not my father's dishke for him." 

" After he left I grew very miserable. The idea of his 
bemg wounded and suffering without my being with him to 
minister to his distresses tortured me, and that of his prob- 
able death maddened me-; and I resolved to come on, see him 
here, and if he still wishes to carry out our former en o-a^e- 
ment, I shall marry him. 

" To accomphsh what I feel to be a holy duty, I have 
braved the everlasting displeasui'e of my whole family I 
. was compeUed to keep my determination profoundly secret 
to prevent the thwartmg of my earnest wishes. In order to be 
able to secure the funds necessary for my expenses I made a 
confidante of a friend from whom I succeeded in obtaining 
a promise of secrecy, and the loan of some money, which 
together with the sale of some valuables, afforded me meani 
sufficient to meet any demands of the adventure. I also 
made a confidant of a female servant belonging to my father 
and obtained from her the loan of the clothing and baggage 
you see I have with me. My real position I studiously 
avoided making known, resolving, if by no other means I 
might obtam a meeting with the man I so dearly loved in 
the plam garb of a servant, and acting in that character I 
would reveal my presence to him. 

"Now, madam, you have heard my story, and beinr.- 
acquamted with it, do not say you blame me; for sufferino-as 
I have done, I could not bear reproaches for what some may 
term my rashness. I have dared aU, and braved aU; the con- 
sequences I am prepared to endure-but no reproaches " 

Her hstener heard her story with the sympathetic interest 
which ever belongs to a true woman, and promised to make 
such inquiries relative to. her quondam lover as would be 
satisfactory m regard to his whereabouts, and such as, undev 
tne dehcate circumstances in which the young girl was 
placed, she could not conveniently obtain, and preserve her 
mcognito. 

Ascertaining to a certainty that the- captain in question 



74 INCIDENTS OF lUTTLE. 

liad been sent to Riclimond, she also learned that he was 
the invalid guest of , and that the wound, at first pro- 
nounced dangerous, was comparatively slight. 

Cheered by this information, the young girl bade adieu to 
her newly found friend, and hastened to Richmond to be 
with her lover, and soothe by her presence and gentle min- 
istrations the sufferings he endured. 

Alas! for woman's devotion and man's fickleness! Cupid 
had pla^^ed a sad game with this young devotee of Mars. 
Unfortunately for his old love and the better princi- 
ple which should have called to remembrance " the girl he 
left behind him," — the daughter of his kind host happened 
to be one of the most fascinating, fashionable, and irresisti- 
ble belles of the rebel capital, and, caught in the rebound, 
the invincible " man of war," who had fearlessly faced the 
cannon of the enemy, cowered, and fell a victim to the be- 
witching charms of the fair belle of Richmond. 

His attentions to her from their first acquaintance indi- 
cated that his heart was not untouched, and with a coquetry 
unpardonable, but which is usually the accompaniment of 
the recognized belle, she so encouraged his overtures, as to 
foster hopes that she, betrothed to another, could never 
crown with fulfillment. 

His ioTTHQT fiancee arrived in Richmond, and from more than 
one of Rumor's thousand busy tongues, she learned of the 
cruel infidelity of the man for whom she had made such sacri- 
fices. Broken-hearted and wretched, she carefully avoided 
making known to her faithless lover the fact of her presence 
so near him. She left for her distant home to meet the 
angry reproaches of her father — to bear alone the burden 
of her unhappiness. 



CHANGES IN RICHMOND. 75 

CHAPTER XIII. 

CHANGES IN RICHMOND AN EVIL ADDITION. 

THE decided and timely check received by our enemies in 
their first memorable attempt in the " On to Rich- 
mond " movement strengthened us in that city in our feel- 
ings of security, and confidence in the wisdom of the gov- 
ernment under which we then lived, and the ultimate success 
of the cause for which we were engaged in war; and bright 
hopes of a speedy restoration to peace were entertained 
and freely expressed. 

So strongly did these impressions enter into the feelings 
of the inhabitants of Richmond, and indeed of all the South, 
that the soldiers frequently remarked they would be. sent 
home before frost in autumn ; and even the wisest and 
most experienced expressed the opinion that the ''back- 
bone of the war was broken." But they sadly miscalcu- 
lated the energy and perseverance of the enemy with whom 
we were contending. Only temporarily discouraged by de- 
feat, it has been seen that, profiting by the lessons of experi- 
ence, gained through misfortune, they began to work with 
redoubled energy in the prosecution of the war. It might 
have been supposed that the severe and unexpected chas- 
tisement inflicted by the rebels would dampen the ardor 
with which they would, henceforth be pursued, or bring 
about a determination to abandon the idea of subjecting a 
foe that had proven so unconquerable. 

The enemy's elasticity was not understood by us at the 
South; but we were soon taught to understand the mistake 
we made in our estimate of the energy of Northmen, oper- 
ating through a government as determined as themselves on 
the subjugation of the daring rebels who had Hfted imj)ious 
hands against the sacredness of superior authority. (?) 

We heard, with much disposition to be amused, that chaf- 
ing under the defeat at Manassas, the Federal Government 
ment, forgetting the former prowess of our illustrious Lieu- 



76 CHANGES IN EICHMOND. 

tenant General, had laid him " on the shelf." General Mc- 
Dowell had been doomed to a measure of the public censure, 
and a younger, more promising, if less experienced comman- 
der, was to lead our foes to certain victory. General Mc- 
Clellan was placed in command of the intractable army. 

Meanwhile, with the incoming of the Confederate Govern- 
ment, Kichmond was flooded with pernicious characters. 
The population was very soon doubled. Speculators, gam- 
blers, and bad characters of every grade flocked to the 
capital, and with a lawlessness which for a time bade defi- 
ance to authority, pursued the rounds of their wicked pro- 
fessions, and grew rich upon their dishonest gains. Thieving, 
garrotting, and murdering were the nightly employments of 
the villains who prowled around the city, until, by the in- 
creased vigilance of the police under the newly-appointed 
Provost Marshal, this alarming state of affairs was in a 
measure rectified. 

Every man who then made his appearance in the rebel 
capital was by no means inspired by a patriotic principle to 
spend and be spent in the service of the Confederacy, but 
many were there for the sole purpose of subserving their 
own selfish and wicked ends. 

For effect, all these villains donned the military dress, and 
for a while this was a passport to notice and respect; but 
growing wary of imposition, society required some other 
voucher to pass an unknown or suspicious individual. 
Guards halted every man at every corner, and unless sup- 
ported by the proper credentials, a safe place was found for 
delinquents in durance vile, or closely watching the extent 
of furloughs, the idle soldiers were summarily returned to 
their respective regiments, or the offenders found hospita- 
ble lodgment in Castle Thunder, or Castle Godwin, and 
some, for flagrant offences, in the Virginia Penitentiary. 

This state of things, though much to be deprecated, and 
extremely annoying, was not unexpected from the beginning, 
and taking into consideration the great variety of character 
and purpose which constituted the floating population of 



CHAITGES IN RICHMOND. 77 

Riclimond, acts of higli-handecl outrage were comparatively 
few, and more noticeable to tlie resident pox^ulation on ac- 
count of tlie higli tone of morals ttiat had characterized the 
place in former times. 

There was another class of whose presence we were from 
the first often warned, who were to be held in much greater 
dread than the thieves and murderers — the garrotters and 
assassins who infested the city. They did not make the 
midnight hour the time for their operations, nor the rope 
and the gag the means by which they secured the money 
and valuables of their victims; but they chose the open day- 
light for their operations, under specious pretexts got ad- 
mittance into society, sought and obtained office under the 
government, duped the highest officials, obtaining through 
that means important information, and then, in the secrecy 
of the midnight hour, by successful stratagem, and by bri- 
bery, or perhaps with the use of the ever-ready gag and 
rope, ran the blockade, and conveyed to our enemies the 
secret designs of the government. This, we have been told, 
was the plan of operation. 

Spies were there who for gold were ready at any moment 
to deliver the city into the hands of our enemies. We felt 
it, we knew it, and there were those who censured the gov- 
ernment for culpable carelessness and neglect in not ferret- 
ing out these dangerous characters, and bringing them to 
justice for their treachery. But whether or not the conse- 
quences were dreaded by those in power, there were very 
few who were apprehended and brought to prompt punish- 
ment. The most lamentable feature in this case was that 
some who were innocent, might fall, or perhaps did fall, 
under suspicion. 



78 BICHMOND A CITY OF REFUGE. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

RICHMOND A CITY OF REFUGE EXTORTIONS. 

RICHMOND had already become a *'city of refuge." Fly- 
ing before the face of the invader, thousands sought 
within its hospitable walls that security they could not hope 
to receive in exposed and isolated places. Tales of suffering 
were even then the theme of thousands of tongues, as the 
homeless and destitute crowded into our city for safety and 
support. The usual hotel and boarding-house accommoda- 
tions were found altogether insufficient to supply comforta- 
ple places of sojourn for the great numbers depaanding sym- 
pathy and shelter. From the first day that war was declared 
against the South, Richmond was taxed to the utmost extent 
of her capacity to take care of the surplus population that 
accumulated within her limits. 

Many of the citizens received and entertained these wan- 
derers; but many, by the suspension of the ordinary busi- 
ness pursuits of the city, were so reduced in income that 
it became an impossibility for them to extend to such num- 
bers the assistance which a native kindness and generosity 
prompted. 

From the extraordinary influx of population, and the ex- 
istence of the blockade, which prevented the importation of 
supplies in proportion to the demand, we were compelled 
to submit to the vilest extortions by which any people 
were ever oppressed. It was first observed in the increased 
prices placed upon goods of domestic manufacture. Cotton 
and woolen fabrics soon brought double prices, even before 
there was a general circulation of the money issued by the 
Confederate Treasury. The wisest laid in supplies sufficient 
to stock a small shop, and had enough to last during the 
entire war; but an overwhelming majority, unsupplied with 
means to use providently, waited for each day to provide 
for the pecuhar wants of the day, and at length suffered 
for the simplest necessaries of life. 



KICHMOND A CITY OF REFUGE. 79 

A lady in conversation with, a friend, as early as May, 
18G1, said, " If you need calico, you liad better purchase at 
once, for our ninepence goods have gone up to sixteen cents, 
and very soon we shall have to pay twenty-five cents. Our 
ten cent cotton domestics are now retailing at sixteen cents, 
and before the end of June it is said to be doubtful whether 
there will be any left in Richmond, and if any, we shall have 
to pay three prices." Could she have have foreseen the time 
when for a yard of the goods in question she would have 
to pay as many dollars, and later still twice the amount in 
dollars, she would indeed have urged her friend, who was 
incredulous to the truth, to purchase supplies sufficient for 
a number of years. 

The same fact was observable in regard to imported arti- 
cles of food. The extraordinary increase in price was first 
noticeable in that demanded for coffee. An old lady, one of 
the most famous of the many distinguished housewives of 
Virginia, in great astonishment, said in August, 1861: 
" Only think ! coffee is now thirty cents per pound, and my 
grocer tells me I must buy at once, or very soon we shall 
have to pay double that price. Shameful ! Why, even in the 
war of 1812 we had not to pay higher than sixty cents. And 
now, so soon ! We must do without it, except when needed 
for the sick. If we can't make some of the various proposed 
substitutes appetizing, why, we can use water. Thank God, 
no blockade can restrict the supply of that. That, at least, 
is abundant, and given without money and without price." 

Could this conscientious economist then have foreseen the 
cost of the berry for her favorite beverage at fifty dollars -per 
pound, she would not grudgingly have paid the grocer his 
exorbitant demand of fifty cents. 

During the existence of the war, coffee was a luxury in 
which only the most wealthy could constantly indulge ; and 
when used at all, it was commonly adulterated with other 
things which passed for the genuine article, but was often so 
nauseous that it was next "to impossible to force it upon the 
stomach. Rye, wheat, corn, SAveet potatoes, beans, ground- 



80 RICHMOND A CITY OF REFUGE. 

nuts, chestnuts, cliiccory, oclire, sorghmn-seed, and other 
grains and seeds, roasted and ground, were all brought hito 
use as substitutes for the bean of Arab}'-; but after every 
exxDeriment to make coffee of what was not coffee, we were 
driven to decide that there was nothing coffee but coffee, 
and if disposed to indulge in extravagance at all, the peo- 
ple showed it only by occasional and costly indulgence in 
the luxurious beverage. 

Tea, sugar, wines, and all imported liquors, increased 
rapidly in expense as the supply grew scarce, but not in the 
same ratio as coffee, which had been in universal use at 
the South — the low price at which it had been purchased, 
and its stimulating and pleasant effects making it agreeable, 
necessary and possible for even the poorest to indulge in its 
use. 

The leaves of the currant, blackberry, willow, sage, and 
other vegetables, were dried and used as substitutes for tea 
by those who could not or did not feel justified in encourag- 
ing the exorbitant demands of successful blockade runners 
and dealers in the article. When sugar grew scarce, and 
so expensive that many were compelled to abandon its 
use altogether, there were substituted honey, and the 
syrup from sorghum, or the Chinese sugar cane, for all 
ordinary culinary purposes. The cultivation pf the latter 
has become a very important consideration with the agri- 
culturists ctf the more northern of the Southern States, 
being peculiarly adapted to the soil and climate, and fur- 
nishing a cheap and excellent substitute for the syrup of the 
sugar cane of the Gulf States and the "West Indies. 

With an admirable adaptation to the disagreeable and in- 
convenient circumstances entailed upon us by the blockade, 
the necessary self denial practiced by the people was in a 
spirit of cheerful acquiescence, and with a philosoj)hical 
satisfaction and contentment that forgot the present in 
a hopeful looking for better and brighter days in the 
future. 

Cheerfully submitting to inconveniences, and deprived 



EICHMOND A CITY OF REFUGE. .81 

from tlie first of the usual luxuries and many of the neces- 
saries of life, the i^eople were buoyed up with the hope and 
belief that their sufferings would be of short duration, and 
that an honorable independence and exemption from the 
evils which surrounded them, would soon compensate amply 
for the self denial they were called upon to practice. The 
remembrance then would be rather glorious than disagreea- 
ble in the reflection that they, too, had shared the travail 
which wrought the freedom of their country. 

If there were any who sighed after the flesh-pots of 
Egypt, the sighs were breathed in the silence of retirement, 
and not where the ardor of the more hopeful could be 
chilled by such signs of discontent. 

There was, however, a class in Richmond who very ill en- 
dured the severe simplicity and the rigid self-denial to which 
they were compelled to conform in the Confederate Capital. 
Gradually and insidiously innovations were permitted, until 
at last the Kcense tolerated in fashionable society else- 
where grew to be tolerated somewhat in Richmond, and in 
the course of time prosy Richmond was acknowledged 
*'fast" enough for the fastest. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE CLOSE OF 1861 THE HOPE OF INTERVENTION CAPTURE OF 

MASON AND SLIDELL. 

IT was with painful regret that we were driven to notice 
the indifference manifested in reference to the cami3aigu 
in "Western Virginia, and with equal sorrow that we were 
compelled to discover the undue estimate placed upon the 
moral effects of such engagements as that at Leesburg. 
From the fierce valor and maddened determination of the 
Southern troops in that battle, and the unaccountable weak- 
ness of the enemy, many considered the former invincible, 
and an overweening confidence took possession of their 
4* 



82. THE CLOSE OF 1861. 

miDds, in tlie absolute certainty of success to the Confed- 
erate arms. In the same proportion they were disposed to 
depreciate the courage of their foes, and underestimate 
their powers of endurance and determination. 

The year of 1861 was drawing to a close. Autumn had 
been long protracted. No one can forget the Hinusually de- 
lightful weather of that season in the beautiful State of Vir- 
ginia. Finer we had never seen. The skies were bright, 
the air soft and balmy, the Indian summer much earlier and 
much longer protracted than usual, throwing over the earth 
its beautiful, dreamy haze, and inviting to the voluptuous 
enjoyment said to be awakened by the soft airs and warm 
blue skies of Italy. Dissociated with the startling fact that 
we were in the midst of war, which rested over our souls as an 
incubus of blackest horror, we should have experienced per- 
haps, in full measure, the dolce far niente of Eastern romance. 
But we could not, by closing our eyes and ears merely, and 
by breathing the delightful fragrance of the air, shut out 
from our hearts the gaunt, grim spectre. 

The one prominent idea, in which all others were ab- 
sorbed, was the war. In the social, the literary, the relig- 
ious and the scientific circles of Richm ond, war, and the ne- 
cessities arising from it, were subjects upon which all minds 
were turned. There seemed no time, no thought for any- 
thing else. 

A celebrated artist laid aside his jjalette and pencil, and 
occupied himself with experiments in fulminating powder, 
but, by carelessly neglecting proper caution, lost his life by 
an explosion. 

An excellent chemist, who would have been invaluable to 
the government, thoughtlessly smoked" a cigar in his labo- 
ratory, as he was preparing a powerful detonating com- 
pound, and was blown to pieces by an explosion that 
occurred from a spark from the cigar. His mangled ]3ody 
was found, in parts, many yards from the scene, and the 
building in which he operated was completely shattered. 

Very early in the war, another gentleman, after ^a series of 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 83 

successful experiments, lost his life in an explosion tliat ef- 
fectually destroyed the building in which he was operating, 
and injured several x^ersons in the vicinity. 

Those who occupied themselves in this dangerous busi- 
ness seemed to be lamentably careless. In the spring of 
1863, in a laboratory on one of the islands in the river, 
where a number of females were employed, through the 
carelessness of some of the employees in handling some 
matches, a most terrific explosion occurred, and a number of 
women were killed. Their bodies were so torn and muti- 
lated that in many instances they could not be identified, 
and, withal, were charred until they were perfectly black. 
These were some of the freaks of death, in its carnival held 
in Richmond during the war. 

The quiet along the lines of the Potomac was considered 
by many as auspicious of good to the South. They were 
impressed with the opinion that the enemy did not advance 
during the fine weather, when the roads were good and an 
opportunity for a movement " On to Richmond " so favor- 
able, on account of mortal fear of the foes with whom 
he should have to contend. Some of our newspapers in- 
cHned to this opinion, industriously circulated it through 
the press, and encouraged a spirit of security and apathy 
on the part of the people and military. The warning voice 
of the Richmond Examiner was too little heeded, and the 
caustic and stinging yet useful words from the ready and 
vigorous pen of the lamented editor, and the well-meant and 
timely reproaches and denunciations of certain of the liv- 
ing, were unheeded and derided by those who did not wish 
to accredit the truth, that the calm in the outward appear- 
ance of our "sea of troubles" was only on the surface. Un- 
derneath, the waves rolled in all their mighty fury, to lash 
themselves into violence when rocked by the winds of the 
future. Challenge after challenge failed to bring into an 
engagement the "Young Napoleon," and our Army of the 
Potomac had to content itself with heavy skirmishing along 
the lines, without being able to provoke a general action. 



84 THE CLOSE OF 1861. 

The quiet was broken in December by an episode in 
wbicli was taught a u.stiM lesson to those who encouraged 
no thought of defeat to the Confederate arms, although our 
forces at Drainesville were the victims of a deception that 
could not be justified by the rules of civilized warfare. It 
occurred on the 22d of the month. About 2,500 of our 
men encountered a force of the enemy greatly superior in 
numbers, and being encumbered with a train of wagons for 
foraging purposes, after fighting desperately were compelled 
to retreat, with a loss of several hundred in killed and 
wounded. They then ascertained that the fighting qualities 
of the enemy had sensibly improved under the tuition of 
General McClellan, and that the raw troops under his man- 
agement were no longer to be despised or contemned. Of 
the frightened material that had so in gloriously retreated 
at Bull Run, he was making soldiers who proved their 
claim to the title and character, in the fearlessness and 
courage with which they entered the fight at Drainesville. 

From the beginning of the war hopes had been enter- 
tained that foreign powers would, interfere, so far, at least, 
as to bring about the recognition of our government by 
France and England, and by that means raise the blockade 
so rigidly enforced against us. From day to day, and from 
month to month, we were entertained with the near ap- 
proach of this desirable notice by the two most powerful 
nations of Europe, and it had the unfortunate effect of de- 
creasing the sentiment of self-reliance at the South, and 
causing her to look for help from extraneous sources, when 
a determination to conquer a peace and prove herself enti- 
tled to the favorable consideration of the powers from 
which she expected recognition, was the course that would 
have been dictated by a wisdom unblinded by conceit or con- 
fidence in her own abilities. 

Towards the close of the year, doubts arose in the minds 
of people of intelligence, as to the ^^i^ospect of the much- 
desired notice. In Richmond, the press began to discour- 
age the idea, and counseled against the indulgence of a 



THE CLOSE OF 1861. 85 

hope destined to be unfulfilled; arguing that a bold inde- 
pendence would insure success, and give us a right to de- 
mand justice and friendship from foreign governments. 

It was thought that England, in consideration of her in- 
terests in the cotton and tobacco of the South, and France 
from her interests in the tobacco, with the prospect of dis- 
tress at home among the operatives who Hved alone by the 
ndanufactui'e of those articles, would be compelled to aban- 
don a policy of neutrality, and recognize the Southern 
Confederacy as one of the family of nations. But the unwil- 
lingness of those powers to enter into a war across the 
ocean prevented them from giving the desired . countenance 
to the cause of the South. They preferred to support their 
starving working class at home to engaging in war abroad. 

The selfishness and heartlessness of their course towards 
the South awakened the most intense' dislike in the minds 
of the people for those countries which were seemingly 
quietly looking on, while a strong power was preparing to 
crush a rebellion to which they felt they were driven by a 
system of oppression as cruel as it was unnecessary. 

The raising of the blockade was the one desire which op- 
erated to turn the hopes of the Southern peox^le upon help 
from England and France. If that was effected and in- 
tercourse opened with the outside world, there seemed 
to us a much brighter prospect. They, however, grew to 
learn that such hoj)es were groundless, and contented them- 
selves with the disappointment. 

About this time (in the month of December) an event 
occurred which again raised the hopes of the South, in a 
prospect of foreign intervention and a release from the 
blockade. 

The Commissioners deputed by the Confederate govern- 
ment respectively to France and England, having success- 
fully run the blockade at Charleston, in a Confederate 
vessel, arrived safely at Havana, a neutral port, and took 
passage on the British mail steamer, the "Trent,' for an 
English port. When but one day at sea, and while in 



8G the close of 1861. 

the Bahama Cliannel, this steamer was brought to by a 
shotted gun from the Federal steam frigate " San Jacinto," 
and boarded by an armed boat's crew, sent out by the com- 
mander of the vessel, Commander Wilkes, under the imme- 
diate command of Lieutenant Fairfax, who demanded the 
delivery of the persons of the Commissioners, Messrs. Ma- 
son and Slidell, with their secretaries, Messrs. Eustis and 
Macfarland. 

Claiming the protection of the British flag, they refused 
to leave the vessel, except by actual force of arms, when 
the Federal lieutenant declared it was his purpose to use 
force if resistance was persevered in. The " Trent " being 
an unarmed vessel, all efforts at resistance were hopeless, 
and the Confederate Commissioners were surrendered under 
a distinct and passionate protest against a piratical seizure 
of their persons under a neutral flag. When the news of 
this outrage reached Bichmond, it was welcomed as one of 
the most fortunate phases that could have been developed 
for the cause of the South. Confident that the British gov- 
ernment, in all its majesty, would resent this unparalleled 
insult to its flag, and, from the exultation of the North over 
the capture of the ambassadors, not dreaming they would 
be dehvered up at the demand of Great Britain, it was 
deemed a most singular interposition of Divine Providence, 
that in a manner so strangely unexpected was operating in 
our favor. 

The unhesitating surrender of the Commissioners by Mr. 
Seward, when they were demanded of him, as the Federal 
Secretary of State, by the British government, dashed all 
our hopes of good fortune from this circumstance, and we 
were thrown back to look to our own resources alone for 
help. 

More than once there were rumors that a French fleet 
rested in Hampton Boads, at the mouth of the James Biver, 
and we were foolish enough, connecting these reports with 
a knowledge of the fact that vast quantities of tobacco 
owned by the French government were known to be stored 



A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 87 

in Riclimond, to credit tlie falsehoods. So ready were we 
to catcli at the faintest shadow of hope which promised us 
independence and peace, that we gave credence to many 
ridiculous reports, and as deceitful as ridiculous. 

Alone and unaided by any help from abroad, save irregu- 
lar assistance from England in vessels and munitions of war, 
occasionally run in through the blockade, we waged for four 
years, successfully, against" an enemy amply supplied with 
everything necessary to subdue us, a war in which with us 
everything was wanting but " brave hearts and willing 
hands," and, we must add, a self-sacrificing spirit, which 
alone sustained us under hardships the most bitter, trials 
the most cruel, oppressions the most unmitigated, with the 
dreadful knowledge that unaided we must suffer ; shut in 
by the most rigid blockade, unsympathized with and un- 
cared for as a nation by the outer world 



CHAPTER XVT. 

A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK WORK FOR THE SOLDIERS. 

AS the year 1861 drew to a close, the weather, which 
in autumn had been so unusually fine, grew rainy, 
snowy and disagreeable. It was never intensely cold, but 
chilling rains and frequent snows, melting almost as quickly 
as they fell, rendered the season more unhealthy and un- 
comfortable than the clear, stinging atmosphere that quick- 
ens the circulation of the' blood, raises the spii'its in pro- y/ 
portion, and makes winter rather delightful than unpleasant. 
The industrial operations of our women were now chiefly ^ 
devoted to knitting for the soldiers. Mothers and grand- 
mothers, who in the da^^s of their youth had learned the 
valuable use of knitting-needles, gave lessons to the younger 
women of our country, who, through the triumph of me- 
chanical skill in the manufacture of hosiery, had been left 
untutored in this branch of domestic female industry. 



88 A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 

It was delightful to watch the busy fingers of our dear 
old matrons, as they deftly wove the yarn through and 
through the shining steel needles, making cheerful mu- 
sic by the winter evening's fireside, as the soldiers' socks 
grew under their skillful manipulation. It was amusing to 
behold the patient industry with which the young girl, who 
had "never thought to knit," caught the manipulations from 
the dear old hands, and the look of patient perseverance 
with which, when transferred to her own, the thread would 
wind in and out, oh ! how slowly, over the needles ; and 
with what delight, after days of toil, she would triumph- 
antly hold up for examination the rude, ill-shapen garment, 
called "a soldier's sock." Many a merry laugh has been 
provoked as the grotesque thing was submitted for critical 
examination. Evenings at home, formerly spent in gayety 
and social amusement, were made pleasant and useful in the 
labors of love and duty which prepared comfortable hose 
for the soldier, or a warm visor or a fancy colored scarf, 
w^hich, under the patronage of kind old Santa Claus, found 
their way to the Christmas-bag in the soldier's tent. 

Although it had become expedient to curtail numerous ex- 
penses, to retrench in this necessary, or to abstain from 
that, kind friends at home could not permit the sacred festi- 
val to pass by without some evidence of the former delight- 
ful manner in which it had been observed. If we sat down 
at a board less cheerful, or less bountifully provided with 
creature comforts, care was taken that our own dear ones in 
the field should not realize it. 

An extra turkey, a rosy ham, a jar of pickles, a jug of egg- 
nogg, or a large golden pound-cake were carefully prepared, 
secured in a strong box, into which found their way name- 
less other articles of cheer and comfort, and intrusted to the 
patron saint of Christmas, who rarely failed to make his 
way amid whizzing balls and crashing, bursting shell, to the 
white tent, with the luxurious dinn6r for the young soldier 
who was debarred from taking it at the homestead board. 

The Christmas season in Virginia has ever been one of the 



A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 89 

most genial hilarity and delight. After the church services 
of Christmas day the remainder of the old year is devoted 
to merry-making. Dull care is thrown to the winds, and 
old hearts grow young, and young hearts grow glad at the 
hap2:>y festival. The faithful domestics are absolved from 
regular employment, and come in for their share of the 
Christmas beunties. An extra shawl, a bright plaid ker- 
chief, a pair of gloves, or the cast-off clothes from the abun- 
dant wardrobe of the masters and mistresses, showed they 
were not forgotten when this delightful time came round for 
the interchange of presents; and many times the heart of 
the kind mistress was gladdened by the simple offering of a 
faithful slave, from the hoarded-up savings of months, to 
purchase for her the "Christmas gift." 

Never before had so sad a Christmas dawned upon us. 
Our religious services were not remitted, and the Christmas 
dinner was plenteous as of old ; but in nothing further did 
it remind us of days gone by. We had neither the heart 
nor inchnation to make the week merry with joyousness 
when such a sad calamity hovered over us. Nowhere else could 
the heart have been so constantly oppressed by the heavy 
load of trouble as in Eichmond, and the friendly congrat- 
ulations of the season were followed by anxious inquiries 
for dear boys in the field, or husbands or fathers whose i^res- 
ence had ever brought brightness to the domestic hall, and 
whose footsteps were music to the hearts and ears of those 
to whom they were so dear. 

As the rushing tide of recollection surged over the soul, 
and the brightness of past happy days of peace came back 
to us, to mock us with delights fled forever, we could not 
close our eyes to a picture that reflected so much bright- 
ness; but as we followed the course of thought down the 
stream of time, with a bitter revulsion that well nigh stojDped 
the pulse-beat at the fountain of life, the awful realities of 
our present opened up before us in the clouds, and darkness, 
and hail, and storm, and tempest of sanguinary warfare. All 
before us seemed a wilderness, through which our feet, bleed- 



90 A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 

ing, bare and torn, must travel; but faith in the righteous- 
ness and ultimate success of our cause was to us the " pil- 
lar of cloud by day " and the '* pillar of fire by night," to 
guide us, like the wandering tribes of Israel, through the 
desert to the land of promise that our National Indepen- 
dence bounded. 

New Year's day was bright, balmy and beautiful as spring. 
The first day of the year has never been observed in Eich- 
mond as one of public reception for ladies, and of visiting 
for gentlemen. The usual arrangements of the household 
under the regime of slavery, would have forbidden such a 
custom. Christmas week was an undisputed holiday for 
our domestics. Those who owned their servants could not, 
by time-honored and regularly estabhshed usage, claim reg- 
ular duties from them, and New Year's day usually found 
a Southern housewife altogether unprepared for entertain- 
ing friends, and intently engaged in the rearrangement and 
reconstruction of the menage upon something like a basis of 
comfort and order. Therefore New Year's entertainments 
never became popular under the " old regime." 

It had been, however, from time almost immemorial, a 
custom with our Governors. Members of the Legislature, 
officials of the government, and any gentlemen who desired, 
were expected to pay their respects to his Excellency, and to 
drink his health in champagne, apple-toddy, whiskey-punch, 
or egg-nog. 

Governor Letcher received, as usual, on the return of the 
anniversary that ushered in the year 1862. His guests were 
welcomed with the broad, good-humored hospitality and dig- 
nified courtesy which ever distinguished this gallant son of 
Virginia. Minus champagne, through the rigid effects of 
the blockade, the giant punch-bowl was filled with the 
steaming beverage, the smell of roasted apples betrayed the 
characteristic toddy, and through the crystal cut-glass 
gleamed the golden hue of the egg-nog, to regale the 
g-uests of the Governor. 

As ma-y be supposed, on this occasion Bacchus asserted his 



A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 91 

triumpli over Mars, and the devotees at his convivial shrine 
were many of them oblivious, happily, to the sterner man- 
dates of the God of War. 

The President of the Confederacy, for the first time since 
its existence, struggling into national life, had his New Year's 
reception. The officers ; civil, naval, and mihtary, the mem- 
bers of Congress and the State Legislature, and admiring 
crowds of less note, pressed forward to testify their ad- 
miration and esteem of the first President of the South. 
With the ease, grace, dignity and gentleness peculiar to 
him, Mr. Davis received his guests, to all of whom he had 
something cheerful to say — some pleasant reminiscence to 
revive, and some graceful, genuine compliment to offer. 
There was in him none of the rigid austerity, the repulsive 
hauteur with which persons of position, sometimes attempt 
to overawe those less favored by fortuitous circumstance. 
A beautiful incident, illustrative of the kindly simphcity 
which characterized him in society, is related of this recep- 
tion : 

A preacher of the Methodist Church, famed as much for 
his singular eccentricity as for his strength of mind, without 
a precedent in the customs of fashionable society, took with 
him to the reception of President Davis his three Uttle chil- 
dren, to place in their youthful minds, (as he said,) an ever 
pleasant remembrance. This appearance with his httle 
ones, occasioned much amusement for the guests of the 
President. When he was presented to his Excellency, and in 
turn presented his children, Mr. Davis, neglecting other and 
more pretentious guests, devoted special attention to the 
pleased httle ones, and when after a friendly talk with each 
of them, and their father with them, they were about to re- 
tire, he said, " Not yet, not yet, Mr. D.," and ordered his 
own little ones to be brought from the nursery to entertain 
his juvenile guests, and declared that no tribute of esteem 
ever paid him had touched him so nearly, or was more 
gratefully received, or was more complimentary than this 
singular notice by the Methodist minister. 



92 A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 

In nothing did Mr. Davis show more genuine amiability, 
more true nobiUty of character, than in the notice he never 
failed to bestow on children. Every one can remember, who 
lived in Richmond, to have seen him many times riding on 
horseback with one of his little ones in his lap, and the great 
pleasure it seemed to afford him to give pleasure to a 
child. His mode of life, always simple and unostentatious, 
made it easy to approach him ; and a sure road to his 
heart was ever found by the widow and the orphan. 

As the year of 1862 dawned upon us, it was not spanned 
by the rainbow-tinted arch of future hap^Diness to us as a 
nation, nor did roseate clouds of peace and comfort reflect 
the sunshine of prosperity; but though dark, threatening, 
thunder-charged clouds hung over the future, the vision, 
quickened by anxiety, caught the light ahead which led to 
peace, to independence; and Hope stood by, and with her 
syren song lulled the weary mind to repose as she pointed 
onward and whispered, " Liberty !" 

It was a singular fact, but from actual observance we assert 
the truth, that from the 1st day of January, 1862, until the 
middle of March, there were not two consecutive days of 
fine weather. There was never any extreme cold, but alter- 
nate snow, and sunshine, rain, and hail, and sleet, and 
mud, and all things disagreeable in the weather of winter. 
We had none cold enough to freeze the water sufficiently to 
gather ice for use in summer, and with the necessity for it 
which was apparent, it was the cause of much real anxiety, 
and the suffering in consequence is one of the saddest re- 
membrances of the summer of 1862. 

Our army suffered terribly fi'om the effects of the winter, 
and necessary exposure in the camp and field. The mortal- 
ity among the troops in Virginia was terrible, and very un- 
willingly acknowledged by those to whom the truth was 
unacceptable. Pneumonia, pleurisy, rheumatism, catarrhal 
fevers, and other diseases of the lungs swept the men off 
by scores, unaccustomed as they were to the hardships of 
the field. The Army of the Potomac was more healthy 



A SAD HOLIDAY WEEK. 93 

than that of the Peninsula. There the miasma brought 
on the most distressing agues and fevers^ — often the pre- 
cursors of other diseases which soon brought "the soldier to 
his grave. 

In a private way all was done in Richmond that could be 
done to provide for the wants of the sick in the army. Our 
commissariat was never judiciously managed, and there was 
great suffering which might have been relieved or alleviated 
by more careful attention to food for the sick. For this 
pur]3ose delicacies were preserved and hoarded up by the 
women of the South, and in Richmond the suffering from 
inappropriate diet was sHght compared with that endured 
b}^ the soldiers away from the city. In many instances, 
doubtless, neglect of precautionary care and attention to 
the health of the army should be considered culj)able, 
but we are unwilhng to attach blame to responsible 
persons when the extenuating circumstances are not under- 
stood. 

Soldiers from the Peninsula told rare stories of misery. 
They would tell of lying down upon as dry a spot of earth 
as they could find, to awake in the morning and discover 
themselves almost submerged in water. Only the most vig- 
orous could endure this exposure, and the constitutions of 
many were shattered in consequence. A young man said : 
"I once laid down to sleep, wrapped head and ears in my 
blanket, without my cap, but awaking in the night I stretched 
out my hand, and raising my cap to my head, I deluged it 
with the water that had fallen while I slept." 

But they were cheerful. Enduring hardship, disease and 
suffering with uncomplaining heroism, declaring they could 
endure much more for the independence they were seeking. 

It is easy to imagine the moral courage, the heroic brav- 
ery with which the soldier is inspired on the field of battle, 
where the sublimity of excitement would glory in courting 
death; but we have yet to learn the secret of cheerfulness 
and fortitude when it comes in the stealthy breath of the 
pestilence, and cuts down its victims silently but not less 



94 THE FALL OF EOANOKE ISLAND. 

surely than the sabre thrust or the Minie ball. Truly, to 
the soldier death in the camp is more awful than on -the 
field of battle; in his tent than breasting the foe. 



CHAPTEE XVn. 

THE FALL OF EOANOKE ISLAND DISASTERS ON THE TENNESSEE 

AND CUMBERLAND RIVERS GLOOM IN RICHMOND. 

FROM the gloomy prospects with which the new year 
opened upon our military condition, we had no hope 
to build upon for successfully conducting the war but the 
unflinching patriotism and the steady enthusiasm of our sol- 
diers. Peace only awaited us through our own persever- 
ance, unaided by extraneous influences. 

The results of the campaign in Missouri were discourag- 
ing. The end of the affair of the "Ti*ent" had quite ex- 
tinguished all hope of foreign interference. The talk of an 
exhausted treasury at the North was silenced by the knowl- 
edge that millions of money and almost numberless armies 
were being raised to prosecute the work of our subjugation. 
Our privateers were accomplishing very httle for us upon 
the high seas, mui-murs of dissatisfaction were distinct to- 
wards the government, the Cabinet was unacceptable to the 
masses of the people, the means of living w^ere becoming 
more and more scarce day by day, articles of food and 
clothing were diminishing through the existence of the 
blockade, and those left to us were held at such a figure that 
constant retrenchment in expenses and sacrifice of the 
commonest necessaries of hfe were constant. The health 
of our armies' was of such a character as to awaken the 
most intense anxiety ; our soil was being covered with 
the graves of thousands of our best and most promising 
young men ; yet no word of failure in the cause for which 
we were striving was heard ; no thought of submission 
found vent in language, but "unaided we can conquer a 



THE FAXL OF KOANOKE ISLAOT). 95 

peace" was the expression which raised the spirits of those 
over whom the shades of despondency were beginning to 
hover. Was it an infatuation, or were we given over to be- 
Heve a sophistry that was to work our ruin? Let it be 
accounted for in any manner it may be, the patriotic prin- 
ciple which buoyed up a people depressed by such external 
circumstances and such internal distresses, reaches a degree 
of subhmity, of grandeur, which cannot be described in the 
meagre gift of language i)ossessed by those who would fain 
give it the proper coloring. 

During the month of January nothing of importance to 
our cause was observable in the Army of Virginia, but the 
operations of General Jackson and his famous Stonewall 
Brigade in the vicinity of Winchester. Under such a leader 
we feared very little for their honor or success. His pres- 
ence served as an electric influence uj)on the brave fellows 
under his command, and deeds of the fiercest daring were 
inspired by this singular man. Fatigues were endured, 
hardships laughed at, and successes achieved, marvellous to 
relate. 

From the West discouraging news came to us. On the 
17th of January we were defeated in the battle of Mills 
Springs, in Kentucky, and our brave young Zollicoffer was 
killed. Flushed with success, our enemies in that region 
prepared for still further triumphs. Yet this defeat engen- 
dered no moral results unfavorable to the Confederate cause. 
It was not felt in Richmond as a matter for very sincere re- 
gret, because, perhaps, of the unaccountable pohtical posi- 
tion of Kentucky, and the distance from the more important 
operations of the Confederate army. Our attention was now 
mainly directed to Roanoke Island, on the coast of North 
Carolina, situated between Croaton and Roanoke Sounds, 
and commanding an entrance to each of these channels. 
After the abandonment of Forts Hatter as and Clark, (short- 
ly after the State seceded to the Confederacy,) and the for- 
tifications of Oregon Inlet, this island became one of the 
most important positions on the coast. It was the key that 



96 THE FALL OF ROAJN^OKE ISLAND. 

unlocked all of the northeastern portion of North Carolina, 
and the rich back country in the rear of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth, and prevented an approach of the enemy upon those 
cities. From these advantageous circumstances it was con- 
sidered next in importance to Fortress Monroe. 

It was now threatened by a Federal fleet under General 
Burnside, of immense proportions and ably commanded. 

Brigadier General Wise had been placed in command of 
the military district in which this important position was 
included, under the superior command of General Huger, 
of South Carolina, commanding the department of Norfolk. 

Finding the defences wholly inadequate, General Wise 
made known to the government the utter uselessness of at- 
tem23ting to hold the island unless eflicient aid was rendered 
him in the improvement and perfection of the defences, and 
supposed to be wholly within ihe means of the government 
to sujDply. Again and again he applied for help, for proper 
reinforcements, and it is reported he used no very measured 
or polite terms as to the certain fate of himself and his 
command, if such assistance was not secured to him. But 
his entreaties were cruelly neglected. 

The attack on the island was made by the fleet of the en- 
emy on the 7th of February. General Wise was at the time 
confined to his bed by sickness, at Nagg's Head, four miles 
distant, and entirely unable to command in person. The 
immediate command then devolved on Colonel Shaw, of the 
North Carolina State troops, who, after a brilliant and en- 
ergetic defence, and when no prospect was left him but the 
utter annihilation of his forces, surrendered the island and 
the army under him. 

When this information reached Richmond, with it came 
slanderous reports in regard to Colonel Shaw, who was 
charged with treachery in yielding up his army, and was 
said to have been wrapped in the Union flag and congratu- 
lated by the Federal commander upon the successful man- 
ner in which he had accompHshed the purpose with which 
he had charged himself. Very soon, however, these false- 



THE FALL OF EOANOKE ISLAOT). 97 

lioods were refuted, and the blame of the failure charged 
upou other parties, who refused with indifference the ur- 
gent requests of General Wise, and neglected the repeated 
forewarnings with which he admonished the government of 
the insecurity of his position, and the fierce remonstrances 
against any attempt to hold it unaided by heavy reinforce- 
ments of men and abundant supj)lies of armament and am- 
munition. 

The orders of the Secretary of War, Mr. Benjamin, were 
peremptory, and with all the pride of military etiquette and 
the indignation of one superior in judgment, Wise obeyed, 
ye^ without a public murmur, and undertook the unfortu- 
nate mission which ended, as he had predicted, in defeat. 

Although foreseen by him, his distress, when the tidings 
of the battle were borne to him, was said to have been in- 
conceivable, and heightened by the fact that his own noble 
son, the gallant young captain of the Eichmond Light In- 
fantry Blues, had fallen. 

The body of this amiable young officer, in whom Virginia 
felt all the natural pride over offspring so illustrious, had 
fallen into the hands of the enemy, but was treated with all 
the respect merited by one so worthy, and was surrendered, 
on apphcation, to his broken-hearted father. On the arrival 
of the remains at Portsmouth, all the bells of tho city tolled 
the requiem of the young hero, — and there his father was 
permitted to gaze on his placid countenance, and the still 
form, in the rigid beauty of death. His emotions were said 
to be uncontrollable, and melted all who witnessed the 
sight. Unable to restrain himself, he bent over the loved 
figure, and taking in his one of the cold hands of the 
departed, exclaimed: " My noble boy, you have died for me ! 
You have died for me ! You have died for your father !" 
Large tears rolled doWn the cheeks of the statesman war- 
rior, "He died for me— he died for me!" and he then fell 
insensible to the ground. 

The devotion of Captain Wise to his father, was under- 
stood to be of a most remarkble character, and partook ra- 
5 



98 THE FALL OE EOi\>NOKE ISLAND. 

ther of the tender self-sacrificing nature of a daughter's love, 
than the less sensitive and more independent tone of a son's 
attachment. Ever jealous of the honor and reputation of his 
father, he had more than once openly resented attacks 
reflecting on a name dearer to him than his own hfe. 

Never was there a sadder funeral in Richmond than that 
which commemorated the death of Captain O. Jennings 
Wise. St. James's Church was crowded to its utmost capa- 
city, to give room to the numbers that succeeded in getting 
into the church, and crowds were assembled on the outside, 
and remained standing during the services, although the 
ground was saturated with mud and water from the melting 
snow. A long retinue of carriages, conveyed the mourning 
family, and the numerous friends of the deceased. The 
principal dignitaries of the General and State Governments 
attended on horseback ; the Mayor and City Council, and a 
vast procession of citizens, the old members of the Rich- 
mond Blues, and all the military in the city, with arms re- 
versed, and bands of music, wdth muffled drums, swelled 
the funeral cortege, and followed the hearse, in which was 
placed the coffin containing all that was mortal of that 
brave young son of Virginia, draped in the banner of his 
State, and the Confederate flag, in whose defence he had so 
gallantly lost a life so precious to his friends, his city, his 
country ! The windows and sidewallis of Richmond were 
densely crowded with spectators of this mournful pageant, 
and tears of heart-felt sorrow flowed unrestrained, as we 
watched the sad train that bore the hallowed remains to their 
quiet resting-place, in our beautiful cemetery at Hollywood. 

The gurgling, never-ceasing music of the river, and the 
winds as they whisper through the trees, and the birds 
singing amid the branches, are the endless requiem over the 
grave of this young patriot of Virginia, the ever-lamented 
O. Jennings Wise. But his memory will hve in the hearts 
of his countrymen, until the children and gTandchildren of 
the Southern soldier shall take up the story to tell their 
descendants of the deeds of daring and glory inspired by 
this brave young commander. 



THE FALL OF EOANOKE ISLAND. 99 

The fall of Roanoke Island produced the most profound 
sensation in Richmond. Somebody was in fault— who was 
It ? It remained for the public to decide. Sui-ely not Gen- 
eral Wise. His protest against holding the island under 
such cu'cumstances was fully understood and duly appreci- 
ated; therefore he was readily acquitted of aU blame. The 
slanders which sought to tarnish the reputation of Colonel 
Shaw, providentially in command of the Confederate troops 
there, were too soon refuted to be brought into considera- 
tion, and the charges of the inefficiency and want of cour- 
age in the soldiers engaged in the battle were disproved al- 
most as soon as scandalously whispered, and the eyes of the 
people turned upon the government. After an investiga- 
tion of this serious misfortune by Congress, the blame was 
fastened on our Secretary of War, who alone appeared re- 
sponsible for this defeat, which might have been avoided if 
he had paid practical attention to the predictions and re- 
monstrances of Genrral W^ise, after he had made a personal 
observation of the position, and reported prospects more 
, than once or twice to the Secretary. 

The hearts of the people were sadly torn by this disaster. 
Mr. Benjamin was not forgiven. His neglect seemed culpa- 
ble, yet we had the mortification to behold his promotion to 
a position of higher grade, though at the time of less vital 
importance to us. This act on the part of the President, in 
defiance of pubhc opinion, was considered as unwise and 
arbitrary, and a reckless risking of his reputation and pop- 
ularity, with a sensible compromise of the unbounded influ- 
ence before possessed by him. 

Although no complaints of want of efficiency as Secretary 
of State were made against Mr. Benjamin, he was ever after- 
wards unpopular in the Confederacy, and particularly in 
Virginia. We had scarcely recovered from the shock of this 
disaster, the sad funeral procession of the lamented O. Jen- 
nings Wise had barely faded upon our vision, when news 
arrived of misfortune to our arms in the West, on the Ten- 
nessee River. Fort Hemy, an important position near the 



100 THE FALL OF ROANOKE ISLAND. 

boundary line of Kentucky and Tennessee, on the east bank 
of the river, had been yielded up to the enemy. It was un- 
der the command of General Tilghman, and in the depart- 
ment of General Albert Sidney Johnston, and was attacked by 
an expedition of gunboats on the 6th of February. After a 
gallant resistance, when all hope of successfully holding the 
fort had become exhausted, under circumstances of the 
greatest bravery and fortitude, General Tilghman hoisted a 
white flag, pathetically remarking, "It is in vain to fight 
longer. Our gunners are disabled, our guns are disman- 
tled, we cannot hold out five minutes longer." The fortress 
was surrendered, and he and his brave httle garrison of forty 
men were taken prisoners. 

This event, coeval with the disaster at Koanoke Island, 
filled the hearts of the Southern people with gloom and 
sorrow. Kichmond groaned under this fresh weight to her 
burden, of grief. Quickly treading on the heels of this mis- 
fortune, intelligence was received that our enemies were 
preparing for a visitation to Fort Donelson, on the Cumber- 
land Eiver — a position of much greater importance to the 
Confederate cause, and much more strongly fortified than 
Fort Henry had been. 

From day to day, as the news of the battle of 'Fort Donel- 
son reached us in Eichmond in straggling items, we were 
encouraged to hope for success there, and anon our hopes 
were doomed to disappointment; but when the fuU and cor- 
rect account was brought, the effect was like a stroke of 
paralysis. In mute despair we listened untU the heart grew 
sick, and grim war seemed unendurable, and a long, bitter 
cry for peace once more took possession of the soul, but 
( with it still a resolve for no peace if to be purchased by 
ignoble submission. 

Again arose the question : Who is in fault in this de- 
feat? At one hour General Johnston received news of a 
victory, at another, a defeat. Somebody was again to 
blame — who is it? where is he, that the indignant Confede- 
rate public may heap on the base head of the originator of 



BUSINESS CHANGES. 101 

this terrible blow the deserved punishment? Who is the 
scapegoat ? This defeat at Donelson involved the surrender 
of Nashville. A train of misfortunes followed, and the 
gnilty parties were ferreted out by public indignation. 



CHAPTEE XVni. 

EEMAINS OF UNION SENTIMENT IN EICHMOND— BUSINESS CHANGES. 

FOE the first time since the beginning of the war, we 
became conscious of the remains of Union sentiment 
in Eichmond. We had imagined it quite exhausted, or, 
if any had entertained it after the beginning of our 
troubles, the sufferings of the people, who were entirely 
irresponsible for poHtical disagreements, had brought aU to 
a compromise of affection for a government that could so 
coolly tolerate human misery. But at that period, when 
success perched unmistakably on the "Old Flag," when 
the fortunes of the Confederacy seemed to be waning, the 
spirit that walked in the darkness left its testimonials to be 
revealed in the light of day. 

On the walls of buildings at various street corners were 
read such inscriptions as these : " Union Men to the Ees- 
cue!" "Now is the time to rally around the Old Flag!" 
" God bless the Stars and Stripes !" " What has become of 
Providence?" "Providence has forsaken its pinks!" and 
many other taunts, that convinced we had traitors among 
us. 

Numbers of persons were suspected, and several arrests 
effected, the most important of which was that of John M. 
Botts, of Virginia, whose incomprehensible neutrality was 
thought, in the opinion of his old worshippers, by no means 
to compromise the amor jMtince he professed. It is not left 
for man to judge,— it has been decreed in the Book of Books 



102 BUSINESS CHANGES. 

tliat " to his own conscience lie standeth or faUeth." A suc- 
cessful whiskey dealer and manufacturer, and a German 
butcher in the First Market, were conspicuous among the 
number suspected. Caucuses of the Union men were said 
to be held nightly somewhere, and detectives were kept on 
the track, but through cowardice or otherwise they consid- 
ered "discretion the better part of valor," and very soon 
the excitement subsided, and indeed there never was serious 
cause for alarm. 

These demonstrations increased the bitter feeling against 
those who invaded our territory. The most dreaded, the 
most hated of all beings was the "Yankee." Social feelings 
and the ties of coDsanguinity were lost in the political whirl- 
wind which bore away every other feeling in its course. 

Little boys on the streets discussed politics with the ardor 
of men grown up, and treasured revenge for those who 
oppressed their fathers. Little girls learned to dread 
and fear the Yankee above all tame or wild animals, and 
amusing lessons were often gleaned by tiiose who paid at- 
tention to the innocent sports of the children. 

A little boy, who had been brought uj) in town, was car- 
ried by his mother on a short visit to the country, and while 
indulging in a stroll in the woods near the house at which 
she was stopping, got on his leg one of those tenacious and 
troublesome insects known by us as ticks. Any one acquaint- 
ed with the nature of these bugs will remember that, when 
once they stick to the flesh, they bury their head in, and 
continue to draw blood until full, and then drop off. They 
are altogether disgusting. This little fellow had rubbed and 
puUed in vain at his " pet tick " for some moments after he 
discovered it, and when at last he succeeded in pulling off 
the objectionable vermin, he held it up between his fingers, 
and with an expression of droll malignity, and provoking 
the laughter of all present, exclaimed : " Ah ! you're a Yan- 
kee !" 

Two lovely little girls, whose parents were of Northern 
birth, were fi-equently reproached by their httle playmates 



BUSINESS CHANGES. ' 103 

for " being Yankees." On one occasion, Avhen in the room of 
a lady who very miwh loved little children, she was attracted 
to a rupture among a Httle party who had begged permis- 
sion to be allowed to have a j)lay there. 

An incorrigible little girl cried out : " There, now, you 
have broken my doll, you horrid httle Yankee !" 

The elder of the chiidi-en of such reproachful origin ran 
at once to the kind lady for sympathy, and laying her head 
on the knee of her friend, with tearful eyes and quivering 
lips, said: "I can't help where I was born!" But her 
younger sister, in more courageous three-year-old dignity 
than her sister of five, exclaimed : " You are bad ! you are 
bad! I shan't pay wid you any more; I shan't pay any 
more !" whereupon a four-year-old Baltimorean, a magnifi- 
cent specimen of Young America, lifted himseK triumphantly, 
and looking after her as she ran to the door, cried out: 
" Ginny, I always thought you were a Yankee, and now I 
knowth it, for that ith a real Bull Run! Now I knowth it; 
now I knowth it. Ah, Ginny !" 

The child is truly the father of the man, and these simple 
anecdotes will serve to illustrate the sentiments of the peo- 
ple more clearly, perhaps, than the expressed opinion of the 
older and more careful. 

Later, a Httle girl of five years old, who had witnessed 
the arrest of her father, under the orders of General Pope, 
(when in command of the Department of the Rai^pahan- 
nock,) compeUing all male citizens to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the Federal government, or be sent out of the 
lines, and whose terror of the Yankees had been increased 
until the child considered them more fearful than bears or 
hons, was in the dressing-room of a young lady, her aunt, 
and watching, with all the interest of a little girl, the din- 
ner toilette of the lady, and seeing a braid of hair upon the 
table at which she stood, took it up, and handling it very 
rouglily, attracted the attention of the aunt, who exclaimed: 
" Put that down, child, you will ruin it ; see how you have 
ah'eady tangled it." 



BUSINESS CHANGES. 104 

" Whose hair is it, auntie ?" 

" Mine," replied the lady, * 

*' Did it grow on your head ?" queried the curious child. 

" No, it did not." 

"Well, whose is it?" 

"Mine, I teU you; I bought it." 

"Well, but whose head did it grow on?" per severed, the 
child. 

" Oh, I don't know," answered the lady; "it is dead folks' 
hair," (rather mischievously.) 

"Dead folks' hair? Well, I would not wear it, — I 
wouldn't wear dead folks' hair." 

And very superstitiously dropping the hair, the child left 
the room, looking over her shoulder at her aunt, as if she 
thought she was committing a sacrilege by adorning herself 
with the hair of one dead. But the child was not silenced 
altogether. Two days afterward, coming into the room of 
her aunt again when the dinner toilette was made, her at- 
tention was directed to the objectionable braid. Climbing 
up in a chair and watching with interest the hair as it was 
coiled on the back of the head of the lady, she said : 

" Auntie, did you say that was a dead person's hair ?" 

"Yes, and what of it, now?" 

"I wouldn't wear it." 

"Why, child?" 

"Because, it might he a Yankee's !" 

Amused, her aunt had to suspend the operations of the 
toilette for a few moments to indulge in a hearty laugh, 
when she repHed : "I think it very probable, as it came 
from a Yankee town; but I shall wear it, nevertheless." The 
lady's prejudice did not prevent her fi'om making use of an 
article which contributed so much to heighten her beauty, 
although its belongings were questionable. 

Great economy was at that time practiced in expenditures 
for dress. Staple articles had grown exceedingly scarce, but 
there still remained in the stores large quantities of fine 
goods, rich silks, laces, "etc., and the merchants, supposing 



BUSINESS CHANGES. 105 

there would be but little demand for sucli articles, were 
willing to sell at the usual prices, and even, in some in- 
stances, at or below cost. Some of our ladies wisely at 
that time invested in fine goods at a much lower price 
than the most indifferent fabrics commanded at a period 
twelve months later. 

Merchants from all parts of the Confederacy removed 
their stores to Eichmond, and in February of 1862 there 
was sold at auction, by a firm from Augusta, Georgia, the 
finest stock of silks, laces and other delicate and rich arti- 
cles, that had ever been exhibited in the city. 

One could almost have imagined being in a strange city, 
from the signs over the doors of the shops. Old establish- 
ments had closed out or had entered into other branches of 
business, and new firms placed theu' names before the pub- 
lic. Israel and David, and Moses and Jacobs, and Hyman 
and Levy, and Guggenheimer and Kosenheimer, and other 
names innumerable of the Ancient People, were prominent, 
instead of the old Anglo-Saxon which had designated the 
most important business firms of Richmond. 

The war was a harvest to that class of our population. 
Claiming no distinctive nationahty, and with the wisdom 
usually displayed by them in financial concerns, their invest- 
ments were of such a character that many of them at this 
time are the capitalists of Richmond, and must be the fu- 
ture Rothschilds of the South. They were not found, as 
the more interested of the peojple, without the means to 
purchase food when Confederate money became useless to 
us from the failure of our cause. They were much abused 
for extortion, but surely they were quite equalled by many 
who should have set them an example worthy of imitation 
among our own people. 

5* 



106 EICHMOND THE PERMANENT CAPITAL. 

CHAPTEE XIX. 

RICHMOND THE PERMANENT CAPITAL. 

THE permanent government of the Confederate States 
was establislied on the 22d of February, 1862. 

The birth-day of the " Father of his Country " was the 
one set apart for the advent of the established government 
of our infant nation. It was anticipated with the most 
interested feehngs over the whole south, and for days pre- 
vious visitors, to be j)resent at the inaugural ceremonies of 
our first (and last) President, crowded into the city from 
all parts of the country. Carriages were engaged a week 
beforehand to convey persons to the Capitol Square, and 
hired at the most extraordinary prices. 

The weather had been precarious for some days, and on 
the morning of the 22d the rain fell in torrents, and the 
streams and the gutters were like the flowing of little rivers. 
Yet the fiiends of the President, and the curious crowds of 
residents and strangers in the city, were not to be deterred 
from witnessing the scene of the inauguration by the rain 
and mud, which was in some places so deep as almost to 
render the crossings impassable. 

The square of the Capitol was crowded with a dense 
throng of old and young — men, and women, and children — 
soldiers and citizens — mingled with carriages and umbrel- 
las, dripping hats, and cloaks, and blankets, and oil-cloths, 
and draggled skirts, and muddy boots, and all other accom- 
paniments of mud and rain upon such a dense mass of 
human beings in the singular panorama of the occasion. 

A covered platform had been erected just underneath, or 
beside the Washington Monument, where the brazen image 
of " the Father of his Country " looked down upon this sin- 
gular sight in the capital of his native State, seeming to 
watch with interest the novel proceedings — with his arm 
outstretched to shield the i^latform beneath, and his finger 
pointing southward. It seemed to us, of the hopeful class, 
significant. 



EICHMOND THE PERMANENT CAPITAL. 107 

Very few heard the inaugural address. The patteriug of 
the rain on the carriages and the umbrellas, would have 
prevented the sound of the human voice from reaching our 
ears — ^but the sight alone of his Excellency, and his gestures, 
always dignified, satisfied those who caught not a word that 
fell from his lij)s, .With patient enthusiasm, they remained 
until the ceremonies were over, and retired to their homes — 
the gentlemen to prepare for the reception at the house of 
our President, and the ladies — who were not fortunate 
enough to have a carriage, to doff garments wet and muddy, 
and to anticipate pneumonia and the many nameless evils 
held up before us as bugbears by the profession who make 
their living from the aches, and pains, and miseries of others. 

Never was there a man put into power so nearly by pub- 
lic acclamation as Mr. Davis. So well satisfied' did the 
southern people feel that he was the man for the place, 
that no other was mentioned as his competitor for office. 

The charge that he was placed in the position he occupied 
by a few factionists is not true, and when we hear him 
spoken of as the " Leader of the Rebellion," we can only re- 
gard him as the constituted head of a people who, to a 
certain extent, were all more or less leaders. 

We could not, with our feeble pen, nor would our inch- 
nation cause us to venture upon a work so presumptuous, as 
to attempt a vindication of the relation of Mr. Davis to the 
rebellion in the South; but the commonest, faintest dictates 
of just ce and humanity should control pubhc opinion to- 
wards 1 man only responsible for his position by virtue of the 
talents with which he was endowed by God himself. His 
statesmanlike abilities had long been acknowledged in the 
Senate of the United States. He possessed an enviable rep- 
utation for genius in the pecuhar profession of politics, and 
openly, manfully, and independently he has avowed the sen- 
timents tliat found an echo in the hearts and voices of the 
Southern people, and made him available for their cherished 
purposes. Let justice be done by a corrected pubhc opinion; 
and the ex-President of the "so-called Southern Confeder- 



108 RICHMOND THE PERIMANENT CAPITAL. 

acy " will stand acquitted before his present most unforgiv- 
ing opposers — before even those most uncompromising ene- 
mies, who would fain assist him to the ignominious death of 
a malefactor. On the head of the whole Southern people let 
the blame rest, who for their sins, if sins they must be 
considered still, have been scourged enough already, in the 
misery, desolation, and death through which they have been 
passing until late, and not upon the head of one alone, 
their unfortunate chief representative. In the name of 
righteousness, justice and mercy, we of the South would ask 
this— and that no more be added to the cruel burden of sor- 
row, which we will admit, if necessary, but only for the sake 
of argument — in our rashness, we brought upon ourselves. 

The administration of Mr, Davis was never wholly accep- 
table to the x^eople. The nearly arbitrary power conferred 
upon him placed in his hands almost exclusive control of 
our military affairs, which were managed in such a way as 
to irritate some of our most accomplished and best informed 
generals. His refusal to concede anything to the people in 
their wishes in regard to changes in the cabinet, to whom, 
from seeming inefficiency, Mr. Mallory, Secretary of the 
Navy, and Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of War, had become 
exceptionable, was the fruitful source of unpopularity. That 
he made mistakes we all must admit. But the question is — 
who, in the trying position of ex-President Davis, would 
have done better ? — who as well ? He has been charged by 
some as using his office to put down and elevate whom he 
chose. Perhaps so. We are not prepared to censure him. 
General Kandolph of Virginia was appointed to fiU the 
vacancy in the War Department, an appointment that was 
immensely popular, and under which success once more 
dawned upon the Confederate arms. About' the same time the 
confidence of the people was strengthened by the appoint- 
ment of General Eobert E. Lee by the Confederate Con- 
gTess to the position of commanding general — a rank cre- 
ated by the demands of our situation, and which, after 
being vetoed by the President, was afterwards consented to, 



THE FIGHT IN HAMPTON EOADS. 109 

but SO modified by him that General Lee, as commanding 
general, sbould " act under his direction." 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE FIGHT IN HAMPTON ROADS. 

A FEW weeks of quiet supervened, and under tbe 
immediate shadow of the now firmly constituted gov- 
ernment, we of Richmond were watching here and there, 
towards the North, and West, and South, for the next turn 
of the mihtary wheel, which might reveal a fresh excite- 
ment. A true history of the war as it appeared in Rich- 
mond from this date, would be of a calm to-day and storm 
to-morrow — clouds and sunshine — if only enough of the 
sunshine to reveal behind the clouds a streak of the " silvery 
lining." 

The uselessness of our navy was to be no longer a re- 
proach ^to us. Mr, MaUory's skill and exertions were to 
receive at least a measure of reward. Hampton Roads, at 
the mouth of James River, and in which, in days gone by, 
brilliant naval engagements had taken place, were once 
more to have their waters ruffled by the ploughing keel 
of the man-of-war, and to reverberate the thunders of artil- 
lery from the engines of destruction. " On the morning of 
the 8th "of March, the Virginia, (formerly the Merrimac,) 
left the navy-yard at Norfolk, accompanied by the Raleigh 
and the Beaufort, and proceeded to Newport's News to engage 
the enemy's frigates the Cumberland and the Congress, their 
gunboats, and their shore batteries. The Confederate squad- 
ron was under the command of flag-officer Buchanan, (a 
Marylander by birth, and accompHshed in his profession). 
It consisted of the Vii^ginia, the Beaufort, the Raleigh, the 
Patrick Henry, and the Teaser, carrying in aU twenty-seven 
guns. 

On passing Sewell's Point Captain Buchanan made a 



110 THE FIGHT IN HAJMPTON ROADS. 

Speech to his men. It was brief and to the point. "My 
men," said he, " you are now about to face the enemy. You 
shall have no reason to complain of not fighting at close 
quarters. Kemember you fight for your homes and your 
country. You see those ships. You must sink them. I 
need not ask you to do it. I know you will do it." 

On steamed the mysterious looking craft, like an im- 
mense turtle swimming on the surface, and puffing out 
vapors of fiery breath. Straight up to the Cumberland she 
went, and as if to satisfy her revenge for the former mis- 
chief perpetrated by her in the Navy Yard at Norfolk, when 
within proper distance sent a terrible visitor from her guns 
to salute the mystified crew, on the deck of the enemy's 
vessel she so closely assailed. Then, with a terrible crash on 
the starboard bow, she saw the reeling vessel slowly set- 
thng to disappear beneath the dark waters forever. 

She next turned her attention to the Congress, which 
poured upon her iron sides a furious shower of shell, that 
bounded off without indenting her armor, and opening upon 
this frigate, sent such a visitation of carnage and dismay, 
that very soon her colors were hauled, and a white flag at 
half-mast run up. . The Beaufort, ran up alongside to take 
possession of the vessel, and secure the officers and crew. 
Lieutenant Parker, commander of the Beaufort, received 
the flag of the Congress, and her surrender from the com- 
mander, WiUiam Smith, and Lieutenant PendergTast, with 
the side-arms of these officers. 

After *delivering themselves up as prisoners of war, they 
were permitted to return to the Congress, to assist in the 
removal of the wounded to the deck of the Beaufort; but not- 
withstanding they had pledged themselves to return to the 
Beaufort, and had left their swords as a pledge, they never 
retm-ned! Although two white flags, raised by her own 
crew, had been hoisted by the Congress, and were flying in 
full sight, a perfidious fii'e was ojDened upon the Beaufort 
from the shore batteries. Captain Buchanan noticed this, 
and determining that the Congress should not fall again 



THE FIGHT IN HAMPl'ON ROADS. Ill 

into tlie hands of the enemy, he said : " That vessel must 
be burned." The suggestion was immediately responded 
to by Lieutenant Mioor, who volunteered to take command 
of a boat for that purpose. A deadly fire was opened upon 
him, wounding him and several of his men. When the 
commander of the Confederate squadron observed this, he 
recalled the boat, and opened a fire of hot shot and incen- 
diary shell, which soon destroy e"d the iU-fated Congress. 

The explosion of the magazine of the Congress was heard 
at Norfolk, and the illumination extended for a vast distance 
over the waters, signaUing to the anxious people the news 
of the wonderful victory. 

In the fire from the shore CaptaiQ Buchanan was wounded 
in the thigh, by a Mnie baU, and being too much disabled 
to continue in command of the vessel, it was transferred to 
Lieutenant Catesby Jones, with orders to fight her as long 
as the men could stand to the guns. 

She was then attacked by the Minnesota, the E-oanoke and 
the St. Lawrence, aU of which, after awhile, were driven under 
cover of the guns at Old Point. On Sunday she engaged 
the Monitor (Ericsson battery.) It is said to have resem- 
bled an immense "cheese-box," of midnight hue, which, like 
a thing of darkness, moved about with spuit-hke rapidity, 
and from its size, and the quickness of its movements, gaiaed, 
at one time, an apparent advantage over the invulnerable 
Confederate iron-clad. 

The IMinnesota again joined in the fight, and the Monitor 
here and there poured its fire into the Virginia ; but after a 
while, a column of smoke shot up above the Minnesota and 
she withdrew, disabled, and riddled with shot from the con- 
test. The Virginia thrice silenced the fire of the Monitor, 
once brushed her, and narrowly missed the opportunity of 
sinking her with her prow, when, declining further action, the 
Monitor retired from the contest, and the victorious Vir- 
ginia steamed back to Norfolk amid shouts of victory. 

The news in Richmond was electrifying. Our despised 
navy was brought into enviable notice, and had the honor of 



112 THE FIGHT IN HAMPTON EOADS. 

constructing a man-of-war, superior to any that liad ever 
been engaged upon any waters. There is no record of an 
affair so brilliant. For days, this glorious engagement filled 
all hearts and minds. Nothing else was talked of, until 
murmurs began to arise that instead of one such vessel, we 
might have had many.* 

The excitement in the North was quite as great as with 
us, and in Europe the utmost interest grew out of the won- 
derful achievements of the Confederate iron-clad, and a new 
impetus was given to naval architecture, by our infant Con- 
federate Navy. 

Shortly after this, the convenient help of the ladies of 
Kichmond was demanded in the manufacture of sand bags. 
For many days the operation went on, and thousands of bags 
were sent to General Magruder, to assist in the fortifications 
at Yorktown. He was menaced by the Federal fleet, and 
with his small army, to contend against the overwhelming 
numbers which at any moment might be landed, his situa- 
tion caused much uneasiness. 

Had his weakness been fully understood by the enemy, 
he must have fallen a victim to superior strength. Our 
hands and hearts and prayers were emploj^ed for the safety 
of the little band that lay in immediate range of the guns 
from the gunboats, which could be brought to bear upon the 
Army of the Peninsula. 

* A clerk in the Navy Department, returning to liis boarding-house, 
after eleven o'clock of the night when the news reached Eichmond, was 
so elated that he passed from door to door in the house to see if any 
one stiU was awake to share the joy of the news he had heard. It was 
too much to endure alone. 



GROWING SCABCITY OF FOOD IN RICHMOND. 113 

CHAPTEE XXI. 

GROWING SCARCiry OF FOOD IN BICHMOND. 

DURING all this time, extortion had increased in Eich- 
mond, until the complaints of the people grew loud 
and terrible. Articles of food, absolutely necessary to sus- 
tain hfe, had gone up in price, until it was thought a neces- 
sity to legislate upon the traffic. General "Winder, the Pro- 
vost Marshal of the city, in order to remedy the evil, laid a 
tariff of prices on all articles of domestic produce, but did 
not legislate upon groceries, liquors, and articles imported 
from abroad. 

The consequence was, the markets were so ill supplied 
that they had almost as well been closed. 

It was next to an impossibility to procure a dinner at all. 
The meats were so indifferent as scarcely to be fit for food, 
and fish became the staple article. To secure these, it was 
necessary to send to market for them before the break of 
day, and frequently, then, the crowed that pressed around 
the fish-market was so dense that many were compelled to 
leave without anything for a dinner, except potatoes and 
poor beef, and the market men declared the jpeople might 
'^starve !" — they would bring in no more supplies until the 
tariff was withdrawn, or the sale of imported articles regu- 
lated in a manner to protect them likewise from imposition. 
They argued, if they were forced to pay the exorbitant de- 
mands for sugar, tea, brandy and other articles from abroad, 
they had a right to charge similar prices for their meats, 
poultry, butter and vegetables, or they would not sell them. 
The greatest inconvenience arose from the want of such arti- 
cles of food as were in the power of hucksters to control. 
Butter and eggs were never seen, and the fishmongers grew 
tired of the annoyances to which they were continually sub- 
jected by their hungry patrons, and refused to keep uj) a 
supply. 

Finding our situation so deplorable, and soliciting relief, 
through a committee of citizens appointed to wait upon the 



114 GROWING SCARCITY OF FOOD EN RICHMOND. 

Provost .Marshal, the tariff was raised, and the merchan- 
dise of the hucksters again flowed into our markets. From 
that time until the end of the war we were entirely at their 
mercy. Being wholly dependent upon them for so much 
that was essential to existence, they charged what prices 
they pleased for their merchandise, and we were forced to 
pay them or abstain from many necessary articles of food 
altogether. As if to recompense themselves for time and 
money lost to them while the tariff was enforced by military 
authority, they doubled the old prices on their merchandise, 
and where the people groaned under the extortion before, 
they found the burden so much increased that the groan- 
ing was doubled in proportion. 

Fishmongers ran up the prices of the piscatorial tribe to 
such a degree that it became no longer needful to send a 
servant to market before the dawn of day for a pair of 
shad or a rockfish for dinner, for so few could afford the 
luxury that the supply was greater than the demand. 

Butter dealers tempted the appetites of their customers 
with huge rolls of golden, fragrant butter, at the moderate 
price of one dollar per pound, increased from forty cents 
before the tariff existed.* 

However, as the spring advanced and vegetables became 
more abundant, the prices declined to a small extent, but 
not the spirit of extortion. That was unmitigated, and was 
one of the greatest annoyances to which we were subjected. 

While we were engaged in the manufacture of sand bags 
for General Magi-uder, and battling against the growing ex- 
tortion in Richmond, the news from the West came to us in 



* We were amused to see a sagacious looking old gentlemen put on his 
spectacles and peer curiously at a beautiful print of butter, as it stood 
on the table of a dealer. After a satisfactory investigation of the choice 
article, when asked by the pohte merchant : " WiU you take this, sir?" 
he replied : ' ' Oh, no, no ! I only wished to see what kind of butter it 
could be to be worth one dollar per pound." Two and a half years later 
the delicious article would have readily commanded twenty-five dollars 
per pound ! 



GROWING SCAECITY OF FOOD IN RICHMOND. 115 

straggHng parcels, and often of the most untrustworthy 
character. 

Anxiety for the fate of the commands of Generals Price 
and Van Dorn increased the unhappiness of the people. 
We felt that in Price, Van Dorn, McCulloch, Mcintosh, and 
in the poet-lawyer. General Albert Pike, we possessed a 
tower of strength in the distant West against the advance 
of Generals Curtis and Sigel, in command of the enemy's 
forces, and a confidence of success buoyed up our spirits. 

But from the battle of Elkhorn, in Arkansas, there was 
borne to us intelligence that added two leaves more to the 
chaplet of mourning for heroes gone. Our brave, invin- 
cible, indefatigable Texas Eanger, the gallant McCulloch, 
and Mcintosh, of scarcely less far-famed courage, feU vic- 
tims to the fury of our enemies. 

The gallant old grey-haired warrior of the West was 
wounded, but in that engagement wrote in characters m- 
delible his name — ''Hero.'' 

We read from the j)en of an accomplished historian of 
the South : " Nor is this all the testimony to the heroism 
of General Price, on the famous battle-fields of Elkhorn. 
Some incidents are related -to us by an officer of his con- 
duct in the retreat, that show aspects of heroism more en- 
gaging than even those of reckless bravery. In the progress 
of the retreat, writes an officer, ' every few hundred yards 
we would overtake some wounded soldier. As soon as he 
would see the old General he would cry out, ' General, I am 
wounded!' Instantly some vehicle was ordered to stop, 
and the poor soldier's wants attended to. Again and again 
it occurred, until our conveyances were covered with the 
wounded. Another one cried out, 'General, I am wounded!' 
The General's head drooped upon his breast, and his eyes, 
bedimmed with tears, were thrown up, and he looked in 
fi'ont, but he could see no place to put his poor soldier. He 
discovered something on wheels in front and commanded : 
' Halt ! and put this wounded , soldier up. I will save my 
wounded if I lose my whole army.' This explains why the 
old man's poor soldiers love him so well." 



116 OPENING OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

CHAPTER XXn. 

OPENING OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN MAGRUDER's SMALL FORCE. 

ALTHOUGH from time to time our attention was di- 
verted to the operations of our army in the South 
and West, our interest centred more immediately on the op- 
erations of the Army of Virginia. The spring had dawned 
upon us, and with the opening of th^ fine weather active 
military movements were expected. / Closely watching the 
designs of the enemy, our sagacious and accomplished Gen- 
eral Joseph E. Johnston, in command of the Army of the 
Potomac, was preparing to evacuate the lines of defence 
held by him since the victory at Manassas. Anticipating 
" a change of base " for General McClellan, in the pro- 
gramme of the movement " On to Richmond," he had been 
quietly removing the army stores, (which had accumulated 
vast quantities,) and with such skill and address that his 
designs baffled the wisdom of many of his men to under- 
stand. When he had accomplished all this, he prepared to 
move his army unencumbered. 

His soldiers were astonished, and not less the enemy, to 
whom this unexpected event was made known by the smoke 
of the soldiers' huts, which had been fired by our army. 
Baffled in his plans of strategy, the enemy was compelled 
to make still further changes, and thus was delayed the ac- 
tive opening of the campaign. Every day's delay gave to 
us an advantage, and proved a hindrance to the successfxd 
operations of the enemy. 

But with the desertion of the lines of the Potomac the 
valley of Virginia was not left uncared for. We knew that 
it was nobly defended by our invincible "Stonewall," who 
was operating in the neighborhood of Winchester. Near 
this place, on the 23d of March, occurred the battle of 
Kernstown. Colonel Ashby, with his fearless cavalry, cov- 
ered the retreat of our army, and, as on many other occa- 



. OPENINa OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 117 

sions, by his reckless bravery and daring exploits, made 
himself the terror of our foes. 

"Wlien the town of Winchester was occuiDied by the Fed- 
erals, maddened at the thought that it should become the 
possession of his foes, he remained until the streets began 
to fill with hostile soldiers, and when they had advanced to 
within less than two hundred yards of where he sat on his 
horse, he waved his hat, cheered for the Southern Confede- 
racy, and dashed off at full speed for the Valley Turnpike. 
Finding his way intercepted by only two of the enemy's 
pickets, he drew his pistol, shot one, and dragged the other 
from his horse, terrified and a prisoner, into the Confeder- 
ate Hnes. 

In the VaUey of Virginia, where the name of Stonewall 
Jackson is repeated with a reverence which approaches to 
worship, the name of this young cavaHer of Virginia is eve- 
rywhere a household word, and every one has a story to tell 
of his bravery and daring. 

In personal appearance Colonel Ashby was not prepos- 
sessing. He was smaU of stature, delicate in constitution, 
and was remarkable for his long, black silken beard and glit- 
tering black eyes. His manners were reserved, pohshed, and 
characterized by the extreme modesty of the Southern gen- 
tleman. Pious and devout in his religious experience, there 
was in him a mixture of the most refined gentleness and 
conscientiousness with courageous enthusiasm. Instead of 
the stalwart frame of the relentless adventurer, with which 
imagination might picture this dashing young cavalier, the 
small, delicate figure, and the refinement of manner which 
belonged to him, made him still more remarkable. It is 
said that when he gave his most daring commands he would 
gently draw his sabre and wave it around his head, and then 
his clear-sounding voice would ring out the simple, thrilhng 
words: "Follow me!" 

■ Wlien inspired by such a leader, together with the elec- 
trifying influence of our beloved Stonewall Jackson, we 
wonder not that the Army of the VaUey of Virginia per- 



118 OPENING OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

formed prodigies of valor and feats of heroism unparalleled 
in tlie history of the war. Jackson and Ashby, — '^ though 
dead yet shall thej Hve," as long as there are brave hearts 
to recognize the deeds of brave men, and honest hearts to 
do justice to true patriotism. 

• " Whoever with an earnest soul 

Strives for some end from this low world afar, 
Still upward travels, though he miss the goal, 
And strays — ^but towards a star !" 

Were we dealing in fiction, and wished a model of all that 
was excellent, all that was noble, all that was heroic, all that 
was simple in Christian faith and sublime in Christian ex- 
cellence, we should turn to the memories of Stonewall Jack- 
son, in the hearts of the brave men of the Valley Campaign, 
and such a character as imagination never joortrayed would 
stand out from the pages of our manuscript, for " truth is 
stranger than fiction," and we who lived where the names 
of Jackson and Ashby were as familiar as our own, need 
go no further on the pages of the history of the mighty 
dead for our models for heroes. 

With sickening anxiety our hearts were turned towards 
the little band of men that defended the Peninsula. Num- 
bering less than eight thousand effective troops, they were 
holding a strip of land between two rivers, from either of 
which the enemy poured upon them from their gunboats an 
almost continuous fire. The question of evacuation was 
brought up before a council of war of the ofiicefs in com- 
mand. The necessity seemed imperative, and the decision- 
to leave the Peninsula was urged by all except one, who 
declared his preference to die in the intrenchments to giv- 
ing up a position so valued by him. He was sustained by 
General Magruder, who determined to hold the place until 
reinforced by General Johnston, and even then until com- 
pelled to evacuate or to surrender. 

We have listened to details of the campaign of the Pe- 
ninsula from the lips of the hero of Bethel, until, catching 



OPENING OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 119 

the rare enthusiasm of the brave old man, we felt that to 
die in such a cause was a death to be sought for. We have 
ever felt that justice was not done to General Magruder by 
the Confederate government, perhaps because his plans, 
thwarted at the very moment which to him was auspicious 
of good, prevented the development of the genius which 
might have shown him capable of much greater deeds than 
those achieved at Bethel. After this decision his men 
stood in the damp trenches— the sheUs flying over them 
almost unceasingly, making the air resound with their ter- 
rific rush, and crashing and bursting like terrible lightning 
— resolved to await reinforcements or to die there ! 

From General Magruder himself we learned that with 
his httle force of eight thousand he so deployed his men 
that he kept at bay the enemy, who brought against him an 
army of perhaps a hundred thousand, until the arrival of 
reinforcements fi-om the army of General Johnston covered 
the retreat from the Peninsula. 

The day of the passage of the Army of the Potomac 
through Richmond will long be remembered by those who 
were then in the city: It was known that they were on 
their way to the Peninsula, and for days they had been ex- 
pected to march through the streets of the capital. The 
greatest interest and excitement prevailed. The mornino- 
was bright and beautiful in the early spring, balmy with the 
odoi^ of the violet and the hyacinth, and the flaunting 
narcissus, the jonquil, and myriads of spring flowers threw 
on their parti-colored garments to welcome the army of 
veterans as they passed. 

Prom an early hour until the sun went down in the West 
the steady tramp of the soldier was heard on the streets. 
Continuous cheers went up fi-om thousands of voices ; from 
every window fair heads v^ere thrust, fair hands -waved 
snowy handkerchiefs, and bright eyes beamed " welcome ! " 
Bands of spirit-stirring music discoursed the favorite airs — 
Dixie's Land, My Maryland, the Bonny Blue Flag, and 
other popular tunes— and as the last regiments were pass- 



120 OPENING OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 

ing we heard the strains of " Good-Bye," and tears were 
allowed to flow, and tender hearts ached as they listened 
to the significant tune. Soldiers left the ranks to grasj) 
the hands of friends in passing, to receive some grateful 
refi'eshment, a small bouquet, or a whispered congratula- 
tion. Officers on horseback raised their hats, and some of 
the more gallant ventured to waft kisses to the fair ones at 
the doors and windows. We shall never forget the appear 
ance of General Longstreet, the sturdy fighter, the obsti- 
nate warrior, as he dashed down Main street surrounded by 
his si^lendid staff. 

Through other streets poured our cavalry, under their 
gallant chieftain, the pink of Southern chivalry, — the gay, 
rollicking, yet bold, daring and venturous "Jeb." Stuart. 
As we saw him then, sitting easily on the saddle, as though 
he was born to it, he seemed every inch the cavaHer. His 
stout yet lithe figure, his graceful bearing, his broad, well- 
formed chest and shoulders, on which was gracefully poised 
his splendid head, his bright, beaming countenance, lighted 
up with a smile as pleasant as a woman's, his dark red hair 
and flowing beard, with his lower limbs encased in heavy 
cavalry boots, made up the tout ensemble of this brave 
son of Maryland. His genial temperament made him the 
idol and companion of the most humble of his men, and his 
deeds of daring and heroic covirage made him respected as 
their leader. 

As they swept through our streets on that beautiful morn- 
ing, with their horses in good order, their own spirits buoy- 
ant and cheerful, many of them wearing in their caps 
bouquets of the golden daffodils of early spring, cheered 
on by the ringing sounds of the bugle, we thought never 
to see them pass, again with worn-out horses and weary, 
listless. spirits, as they spurred on their broken-down steeds; 
.but so it was. 

Twelve months had added another cycle to the age of 
time. Twelve months made cruelly long by suffering; 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 121 

twelve months into wliich had been compressed the events 
of an age, of many ages to some generations ; twelve 
months since the first gun upon Fort Sumter signaled the 
commencement of the bloody war ; twelve months since 
the sun of peace had set in darkness or had fled our coun- 
try. Her gentle presence seemed further off than when 
first upon the walls of Sumter the hot shell poured their 
fiery shower. The thirst for blood was not quenched. 
Upon the red altar of war the ill-fated victims were being 
laid, and all around the earth drank up the warm stream 
from human sacrifices. 



CHAPTER XXin. 



DISASTERS TO THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE IN THE SOUTHWEST THE 

BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

THE first anniversary of the battle of Fort Sumter was 
signaHzed inauspiciously for the Confederate cause. 
Fort Pulaski, the princij)al defence of the harbor of Savan- 
nah, had surrendered to the Federals after a brief bombard- 
ment. The news was altogether unpleasant and unexpected, 
as from day to day we received intelligence that the surren- 
der of that fortress was wholly improbable. In a very few 
days we heard of the surrender of Fort Macon, an import- 
ant fortification commanding the entrance to Beaufort har- 
bor, on the coast of North Carolina. 

About this time we were also discouraged by the news 
from the Southwest. We were entirely unprepared for dis- 
aster on the waters of the Mississippi. Looking forward to 
success in that direction, the capture of Island No. 10 was 
a terrible blow to us, and a source of undisguised triumph 
to our enemies. Their victory was decisive, and from no 
battle-field had such fruits been gathered by them as from 
this island in the Mississippi. 

6 



122 THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

In the meantime, from tlae movements of the enemy on 
the Tennessee lliver, it became evident that fi'om that di- 
rection we might prepare to hear of another and more 
extensive battle than had been fought since the commence- 
ment of the war. General Beauregard had concentrated all 
the forces under his command at and around Corinth, a 
small town situated at the junction of the Memphis and 
Charleston and the Mobile and Ohio Railroads, about ninety 
miles east from Memphis. General Albert Sidney John- 
ston, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the West, 
had taken up a line of march from Murfreesboro, Tennes- 
see, to form a junction with General Beauregard. This 
army was increased by several regiments from Louisiana., 
two divisions of General (Bishop) Polk's command from 
Mobile and Pensacola, and in numbers and appointments, 
and in the great names of the commanders of this army, it 
was one of the most magnificent the Confederates ever had 
in the field. 

They were opposed by General Grant, whose victory at 
Fort Donelson had raised him iiito favor with the govern- 
• ment under which he served. Awaiting reinforcements from 
General Buell, who was expected to unite with him, General 
Grant was not disposed to fight, but General Beauregard 
determined if possible to push him to an issue. 

E-etarded by the condition of the roads from getting his 
artillery in position. General Buell was compelled to delay 
the attack, which inspired Grant to hope that the anx- 
iously expected aid from General Buell would arrive in time 
to afford him the necessary assistance. The rain and the 
muddy condition of the roads prevented Beauregard from' 
coming up with the enemy until Saturday evening, the 5th 
of April. The morning of Sunday, the 6th of April, was 
to usher in the scenes of another memorable battle, near 
Shiloh Church, a rude log chapel, in the vicmity of Corinth. 

We will not pretend to describe the scenes of this battle 
as the news came to us in Richmond. The Confederates 
sustained the character for valor that they had disj)iayed 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 123 

witli rarely an exception, from tlie first gun that was fired 
at the opening of the war. Their advance and their irre- 
sistible attack were compared by General Beauregard, in 
his official report of the battle, to an " Alpine avalanche." 
Our men acted with determined coolness and bravery. Our 
officers displayed the most reckless courage, and even led 
the men into the very hottest of the fire, and to the mouth 
of belching cannon. But, as if to satisfy pubHc opinion 
and wdpe out a shadow which had unjustly rested upon his 
irreproachable name from our defeat at Fort Donelson, Gen- 
eral Albert Sidney Johnston, upon whom the hopes of the 
whole Confederacy hung, bravely exposed his precious Hfe, 
and fell as he was leading a charge upon the third camp of 
the enemy. 

The wound was inflicted by a musket ball upon the calf 
of the right leg, and was not at first considered by him as 
mortal. We read : " Soon after receiving it he gave an or- 
der to Governor Harris, who was acting as volunteer aid to 
him, who, on his return to General Johnston in a different 
part of the field, found him exhausted and reeling in his 
saddle. Riding up to him. Governor Harris asked : ' Are • 
you hurt?' To which the dying hero answered: 'Yes, 
and I fear mortally;' and then, stretching out both hands 
to his companion, fell from his horse and soon expired. No 
other wounds were discovered on his person." 

The day was already secured in victory to the Confede- 
rates, but the death of the brave commander was prudently 
kept fi'om the army. Amid the cheers of victory this glori- 
ous chieftain breathed his last. 

The fruits of the victory were to us immense in prisoners, 
arms, ammunition, means of subsistence, and all things 
which go to make a victory complete. We had engaged a 
greatly superior number of stalwart fighting men from the 
W^est, and the .caj)tured Federal General Prentiss readily 
admitted to General Beauregard : "You have whipped our 
best troops to-day." 

General Beauregard established his headquarters at Shi- 



124 THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

loh, and om* troops were ordered to sleep on their arms in 
the camp of the enemy from which they had driven them. 
"But," says a writer, "the hours which should have been 
devoted to the refreshment of nature were spent by the 
troops in a disgraceful hunt after the spoils." The tempta- 
tion presented by the rich camp of the enemy was more 
than weak human nature could resist, and the most dis- 
graceful demoralization attacked our army, which had just 
won the honors of heroes on the bloody field of battle, 
and degraded the soldier into the plundering brigand. 
General Beauregard abandoned, unfortunately, the pursuit 
of the enemy when he arrived at the river, at which it is said 
Grant could but ill conceal his exultation, and being rein- 
forced by Buell and General L. Wallace with not less than 
33,000 fi'esh troops, prepared to resist the dreaded assault, 
expected on the succeeding day. At an early hour in the 
morning the fighting was resumed, but after repeatedly re- 
pulsing the overwhelming- reinforcements brought against 
them, the Confederates were driven back, and General Beau- 
regard determined to withdraw from a contest so unequal, 
and secure for himself the victory of the preceding day. 
So admirably was the retreat conducted that the enemy did 
not attempt to follow, and although our success was defeated 
on that day by the superior numbers of the enemy, the re- 
sult of the engagement reflected gloriously on the South. 

But to our chaplet of mourning was added another leaf. 
No death was more sadly lamented than that of General 
Albert Sidney Johnston. Our grief was heightened when 
we learned that his death might have been averted by 
prompt and proj^er surgical attention. It is hard in some 
cases to submit with resignation to the will of Providence ! 
His military record was untarnished by an act of dishonor, 
cowardice or inefficiency, and the South felt she had lost 
one of her bravest, one of her best, one of her most praise- 
worthy men. In reckoning the lost jewels of this battle 
the South can count not only General A. S. Johnston, but 
General Gladden, of South Carolina, Governor Johnston, 



ACCUSrULxiTING DISASTEES. 125 

of Kentucky, Captain Monroe, the son of the venerable 
Judge Monroe, of Kentucky, Colonel WilHams, of MemiDhis, 
Colonel Blythe, of IVIississippi, and thousands of lesser 
lights, but dear to some riven heart, which bled afresh un- 
der this new and heavy trial. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ACCUMTJLATrNG DISASTERS EETECT OF THE FALL OF NEW ORLEANS. 

AFTER this time, for many months, there was a rapid 
succession of startling events. Outwardly, Richmond 
seemed stoically calm, but her great heart heaved and surged 
like the smothered fires of a volcano. The fall of New Or- 
leans was the next event of importance borne to us with the 
marvellous swiftness of unwelcome tidings, to call up to the 
surface the deep throbbings of national sorrow. It was as 
unexpected as mortifying and discouraging. The wise 
heads of Richmond had not hesitated to declare the most 
unlimited confidence in the defensible condition of the Cres- 
cent City. It was pronounced impregnable. 

The effect of the faU of New Orleans was felt immedi- 
ately in Richmond in the increased prices charged for such 
articles of food as were brought fi-om that section of our 
country. At once the price of sugar was enormously in- 
creased, and other groceries were made to share in the 
exorbitant charge upon that article. We were helpless vic- 
tims to extortion. A fortunate speculator, having in store 
a vast quantity of salt when our troubles commenced, grew 
rich from the sale of this article alone, and was afterwards 
facetiously styled "Lot's wife." Closely following upon the 
distressing news of the fall of New Orleans, (by which we 
lost command of the navigation of the Mississij)pi, and the 
rich valley dependent upon it, from the mouth of the river 
to Memphis,) occurred the evacuation of Norfolk, with its 
splendid navy-yard, the destruction of the Virginia, and im- 
mediately afterwards, the evacuation of the Peninsula, and 



126 ACCUMULATING DISASTERS. 

the blasting of the most cherished hopes of General Magru- 
der and his Httle army of veterans. Our skies were dark- 
ening. Mobile and Charleston were in a perilous condition, 
and Kichmond menaced by one of the largest armies the 
world ever saw. We were now fully awake to an apprecia- 
tion of the terrible crisis. 

So rapidly succeeded these events that it is wonderful we 
could endure such an accumulation of ill-luck, or better, 
such unforeseen disasters in the providential events of the 
war. The evacuation of Yorktown was accomplished by 
the Confederates on the third and fourth days of May, 
and the place was occupied by General McClellan. On 
the day following occurred the battle of "Williamsburghj 
caused by an attack of the Federals on the rear-guard of the 
army of General Johnston. The retreat from Yorktown, 
decided upon in a council of war of the commanding officers 
in the Confederate army, after the reinforcement of General 
Magruder by General Johnston, was admirably conducted, 
and withdrew our forces to the intrenchments around Rich- 
mond, the more conveniently and successfully to operate 
against the immense army brought against us by McClellan. 
The battle of Williamsburgh, though engaging so few com- 
paratively of our forces, was one eminently successful to 
the Confederates. Longstreet's division, which brought up 
the rear, was engaged from sunrise until sunset, and suc- 
ceeded in driving back the enemy, capturing three hundred 
and fifty prisoners and nine pieces of artillery, and leaving 
on the field, of the killed and wounded, at least three thous- 
and of the enemy. During the night following it resumed 
its march towards Richmond, evacuating the town of Wil- 
liamsburg, under the necessity of leaving our killed and 
wounded in the hands of the enemy. 

On the seventh of May an ineffectual attempt was made 
by the enemy to land at Barhamsville near West Point. 

On the 10th occurred the evacuation of Norfolk — decided 
upon as a military necessity — to bring the forces under the 
command of General Huger to the more needful position 



ACCU]'^rULATIKG DISASTEES. 127 

around Eiclimond. It was accomplislied without a blow, 
and came wpon the unsuspecting inhabitants of that city with 
the effect of a tornado from a cloudless sky. The scenes of the 
evacuation are said to have been thrilhng beyond description. 
The citizens fled in every direction, in every conveyance that 
could be secured to take them beyond the lines of the enemy. 

The medical director of the Confederate army was warned 
of the approach of the Federals only in time to gallop on 
horseback out at one direction while the Federal army was 
marching into the town from another. 

The destruction of the Virginia was the most unexpected 
and distressing of this series of disasters which came upon 
us so rapidly at this period of the war. 

This invincible iron-clad had become, from her brilliant 
achievements in the naval engagement in Hampton Roads, 
the pride of the South. Ker loss to us is said to have been 
of greater importance than if ten thousand men had per- 
ished on the field of battle. 

The evacuation of Norfolk had been j)redetermined more 
than a week before its accomjolishment. Mr. Mallory, the 
Secretary of our navy, had made a visit to the city to super- 
intend the removal of certain naval stores, and yet gave no 
instructions as to the disposition of this important vessel, 
properly called the Iron Diadem of the South. 

At the time, or about the time of these occurrences, 
General Magruder was sick at Westover, on James River, 
and being impressed with the probabihty of the destruc- 
tion of the Yirginia, . addressed a letter to Mr. Mallory, 
giving some advice, and offering some suggestions as to the 
disposition which might be made of the Virginia; and fear- 
ing lest Mr. Mallory might not be impressed by advice 
once tendered, arose, after retiring at night, sick and dis- 
heartened, Hghted a candle, and wrote again, urging the 
necessity of preventing the destruction of this admirable 
vessel. As the sequel proved, the suggestions were un- 
heeded, to the mortification of General Magruder, and the 
injury of the whole Confederacy. 



128 ACCUMULATING DISASTEKS. 

She was destroyed under the immediate orders of her 
commander, Commodore Tatnell, on the morning of the 11th 
of May, in the vicinity of Craney Island. 

He alleged that he had been betrayed into the necessity 
of destroying the vessel by firing her magazine, upon the 
misrepresentations of his j)ilot, who at first assured him 
they could, after Hghtening her so that she would draw less 
water, carry her to within a safe distance from Richmond — 
but who, after she had been Hfted so as to render her 
unfit for action, declared that they could not carry her be- 
yond the Jamestown flats, up to which point the shore on 
either side was occupied by the enemy. This statement, 
however, has been denied by the pilots, and it is due them to 
make known facts, which if not noticed, would leave a re- 
flection on their courage and loyalty. At any rate, in the 
dead hour of the night, in haste, in obedience to the com- 
mand of the Commodore, the ship was put ashore, the crew 
Ip.nded on Craney Island, the train set to her magazine, and 
this noble vessel, worth to us more than fifty thousand men 
in the field, was blown to the four winds of heaven, and the 
naval approach to Richmond left wholly unguarded. 

How far the government may have been responsible for this 
act of madness, (as it then seemed to us,) we cannot pretend 
to say; but we do know that no measured censure was heaped 
upon the persons responsible for the wanton destruction of 
what was so invaluable to us in the conduct of the war. The 
surprise and indignation of the people seemed unappeasable, 
in the threatening aspect of affairs which then hovered over 
us. The destruction of the Virginia occurred at five a. m., on 
the 11th of May. 

It is fair, from all the facts stated in reference to it, to 
suppose that it was predetermined. Mr. Pollard, in his 
history of the war, says: " During the morning of the same 
day, a prominent pohtician in the streets of Richmond was 
observed to be very much dejected. He remarked that it 
was an evil day for the Confederacy. On being questioned 
by his intimate friends he declared to them that the govern- 



ACCUMULATING DISASTEKS. 129 

ment had determined upon, or assented to the destruction 
of the Yii'ginia, and that he had learned it from the highest 
sources of authority in the Capital." 

At that time, as there was no possibility of knowing by 
telegraph of the destruction of the vessel, that took place at 
five o'clock that morning, it is presumable, at least, to infer 
that the act had been decided upon, or assented to, by the 
government under certain contingencies. 

There never was a period of more alarming excitement 
than this in Richmond during the entire war, until the time 
of the ultimate evacuation of the city. The lines of the 
Chickahominy were invested by the enemy. The Valley of 
Virginia, filled by their forces, threatened Richmond in 
that direction. The defences on the river were as yet un- 
tested, and the obstructions in the channel were untried, 
and feared to be ineffectual to prevent the approach of ,the 
flotilla of gunboats that threatened us from the James River, 
and from which we felt we had the most to dread. 

The hasty adjournment and dispersion of the Confederate 
Congress had no tendency to reassure us. The members 
were hastily leaving a place so dangerously menaced. The 
State Legislature, whose action taught a useful lesson to the 
government, passed a resolution declaring their intention to 
reduce the city to ashes rather than permit it to fall into the 
hands of the enemy, or to suffer the terrors and destruction 
of bombardment. An appropriation was made for the re- 
moval of the women and children of the indigent of the 
inhabitants, and every sign betokened the purposed destruc- 
tion of the city if attacked by the gunboats. 

Citizens were leaving by hundreds in all directions, and in 
all manner of conveyances. Baggage-wagons, heaped up 
with trunks, boxee and baskets, were constantly rattling 
through the streets. Houses v>^ere left deserted, or occuj)ied 
by the more courageous refugees, who were glad to secure 
a temporary home. Business was susx:>ended, and the only 
consideration of the people was the means of flight, if it 
became absolutely necessary. It v/as known that the family 
6* 



/ 



130 ACCUMULAITNG DISASTEES. 

of the President had been sent to Raleigh, North Carolina, 
and those of our citizens who bravely determined to remain 
if allowed, or to leave at the last moment, kept their trunks 
packed, and all things ready for flight at a moment's warning. 
Some of the officers of the government, seized with the gun- 
boat panic, decamped with the flying populace. We have never 
known such a x^anic. Our only chance for safety depended on 
the half -finished fort at Drewry's Bluff, which mounted four 
guns, to impede the progress of the much-dreaded Monitor 
and the terrible gunboats. We had then very few torpe- 
does in the channel, and they could not be relied upon. The 
suspense was terrible, and beyond description. Pale dismay 
sat on every countenance, and hearts were well nigh burst- 
ing at the misery of our situation. To add to our wretched- 
ness the waters of James River were so high that it was . 
feared the obstructions would be swejDt away by the cur- 
rent. But a more alarming feature was noticeable in 
the ominous-looking boxes that were brought out of the 
offices of the different departments, containing the archives 
of the government, and marked for Columbia, South Caro- 
Hna. It was evident to a casual observer that a removal of 
^-the government was contemplated. 

• The question. Where shall I go ? was the one that jdos- 
sessed the minds of the citizens. The approach to Gordons- 
ville was threatened, and the only safe retreat seemed on 
the south side of Richmond, and we knew .not how long we 
should be safe in that section of the Confederacy. On the 
morning of the 13th of May, the fleet of the Federal gim- 
boois opened an attack on our fortification at Drewry's 
Bluff. The sound of the guns in hostile action was for the 
first time heard in Richmond. Various reports were in cir- 
culation in the city, and the most intense anxiety prevailed. 
While the excitement was at its height, an extraordinary 
scene occurred. In an accidental meeting of the citizens in 
the City Hall, at the enthusiastic call of the crowd, im- 
promptu addresses were delivered by the Governor of Vir- 
ginia and the Mayor of the city, in which they pledged 



ACCUAIULATING DISASTERS. 181 

themselves to the citizens against the surrender of Rich- 
mond. The Governor was pecuharly warm in his expres- 
sions, and the Mayor declared that rather than, at that 
time, surrender the city founded by his own ancestors, he 
would resign the office of the mayoralty, and though bend- 
ing under the approach of three score years and ten, he 
would shoulder the musket himself in defence of the capi- 
tal. These declarations were received with wild, ringing 
shouts by the citizens. Nor were they the demonstrations 
of the mob. In the audience were some of the most wealthy 
of our population, who declared they would fire their own 
beautiful residences, in preference to delivering up the city 
to our foes, and the most reliable of the men of Richmond 
were ready to apply the torch to the Capitol, and to blow 
the statue of the Father of his country to atoms, rather than 
see them in the hands of the invader. 

Night brought the news of a signal victory; the flotilla 
had been compelled to retire from the contest with our shore 
batteries, and quietly dropped down the stream, satisfied of 
the impracticability of the water route to Richmond. 

The reaction of joy upon the minds of the people was 
quite as intense as the suspense and agony had been in pro- 
portion terrible. Once again we breathed freely, and pur- 
sued the usual avocations of business, until the next turn in 
the enginery of war should place us in the midst of a fresh 
agitation. 

In regard to General McClellan's skill in military affairs, 
we are only prepared to say that until the final surren- 
der of the city, the most serious danger that threatened us, 
was from the strategy which threw him in front of Rich- 
mond, and sent his terrifying gunboats to frighten us from 
our homes in May, 1862. 



132 THE BATHES OF SEVEN PINES 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE BATTLES OF SEVEN PINES AND EAIE OAKS. 

WE had passed througli a truly trying ordeal, and when 
tidings came that all the danger from the much 
dreaded gunboats had been prevented by their signal 
repulse at Drewi'y's Bluff, the reaction of joy upon the 
minds of the nervous and delicate was quite as overpower- 
ing as the intensity of anxiety. Our noble women, who had 
bravely borne the terrible trial, Avith pale, rigid features, 
and eyes unmoistened by refreshing tears, gave vent to feel- 
ings drawn out in such torturing tension, in prayers of 
thankfulness to a Supreme Deliverer, and their pent up 
tears flowed in the unrestrained measure of gratitude. 

But there was little time to give to rejoicing. Along the 
lines of the Chickahominy, within sight of Richmond, with 
hostile intent, lay two great opposing armies, and we well 
knew that the collision of battle must soon shake the very 
foundations of the city. Taking a useful lesson from its un- 
prepared condition for the comfort of the sick and wounded 
of the previous encounter, vigorous endeavors were made to 
meet the necessity of the demand. The first consideration 
that brought into exercise the untiring energies and indus- 
try of our ladies, was in the preparation of couches for the 
wounded. In these labors of duty there were no weary 
hands, and now there was no time to lose. Impending- 
dangers warned us of necessary exertions to meet, if not to 
avoid them, and even the hours of the day of rest, the 
Holy Sabbath hours were again devoted to labors with the 
sewing machine and needle, in the manufacture of bed-ticks 
for the hospitals. In these assemblages of our ladies, when 
the startling occurrences of the last few weeks were dis- 
cussed, the unprecedented flight of Congress and certain of 
the chicken-hearted officials of the government received a 
merited share of ridicule. " Self-preservation is the first law 
of nature," and " the better part of valor is discretion," were 



AND FAIR OAKS. 133 

the favorite aphorisms applied to the swift-footed legislators 
and the flyiDg officials. But we had not long to discuss the 
harmless flight ,of our law-givers and government officers, 
before the crash of strife riveted our attention. 

*' Then shook the hills with thunder riven, 
Then rushed the steeds to battle driven, 
And louder than the bolts of Heaven 

Far flashed the red artillery !" 

On the 23d of May, the Confederate forces were defeated 
at Hanover Court House, about twenty miles above Eich- 
mond on the Central Railroad of Virginia, by the Federals 
under General Fitz John Porter, but it was reserved for the 
31st of May to bring so closely upon us the rush and 
shock of battle as that the hills on which our city is built, 
shook with the reverberations of cannon, as though an 
earthquake were undermining the foundations. The win- 
dows in the buildings rattled, and from exposed points, 
where the hum of business did not disturb the sound, the 
whir and whiz of the musketry were hke the sound of a 
mighty rushing wind, with fui'ious showers of hail. 

The weather was cloudy and dull, and a rain had been 
falling, when at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the 
heavy booming of artillery notified us that the struggle for 
human life had begun. It was awfully grand ! /As peal after 
peal broke upon the still, humid atmosphere, and the glori- 
ous sublimity of the scene was present in imagination, it 
was sadly overpowered by the crushing knowledge, that 
with each note of the battle-music, were intermingled the 
gToans of wounded and dying fellow-creatures, whose hves 
were the sacrifice to the mad fury of political ambition. 
Let those whose fancy delights to revel in such phases of 
the sublime, to whom the shock of crashing armies is pos- 
sessed of terrible fascination, Hve, as has lived the wi'iter, in 
a beleaguered city, where for days and weeks was heard 
almost incessantly the dread music of artillery, and eveiy 
breath of air inhaled, was mingled with the vapor of wai', 



134 THE BATTLES OF SEVEN PINES 

and then let them reflect, at every sound which awakens 
in them the indescribable thrill of ecstasy, that some human 
being is deprived of the life that bounds so delightfully in 
their pulses, that some heart is quivering in the death agony, 
and they will, be satisfied to experience no more the ecstatic 
emotion purchased at a price so dear to some unfortunate 
fellow-mortal. 

On this afternoon, on the field of Seven Pines, this dread- 
ful scene in the monstrous life-drama was enacting. The 
reverberations of cannon ceased not until the darkness of 
night fell to hide from each other the furious combat- 
ants. It was at this hour that our accomplished General, 
Joseph E. Johnston, was wounded. After having success- 
fully attacked the van of McClellan's army, and driving 
it back more than two miles, through its own camp and 
fi'om its intrenchments, he was struck by a fragment of shell. 
But the day had been gained, and an utter rout of the ene- 
my was only prevented by the unaccountable tardiness of 
General Huger, who failed to bring his division in position 
to operate effectively. It had been a bloody afternoon's 
work. We had lost more than four thousand men in killed, 
wounded and prisoners, and the acknowledged loss of the 
enemy was over ten thousand, besides ten pieces of artil- 
lery, six thousand muskets, and various other spoils. On 
the morning of the 1st of June the enemy made a demon- 
stration of attack upon our lines, but were driven back by 
the dashing gallantry of Colonel Godwins, of the Ninth 
Virginia regiment, who, with intrepid daring, far in advance 
of his command, cheering his men to the onset, was wound- 
ed by a Minie ball in the leg, and in a moment after had 
his horse shot under him, which, in falling, crushed the hip 
of the fearless rider. At last reinforcements came up, and 
the enemy w^ere repulsed. This engagement is known as 
the battle of Fair Oaks. It occurred on the Sabbath. 

Many of the wounded had been conveyed to the city on 
the previous evening, but on that day ambulances were 
driven in all directions over the city, bearing as their freight 



AlW FAIR OAKS. 135 

the mutilated \dctinis of the battle. We had no longer to 
congratulate ourselves on the erring aim of our enemies. 
The numbers who were borne to us with shattered Hmbs, 
torn by crashing shell or crushed b}^ the more certain if less 
horrible IMinie ball, told unmistakably that our enemy had 
improved in marksmanship. 

Our hospital arrangements were much increased, and 
had gTeatly improved during the time that had supervened 
since the battle of Manassas, v/hich had found us so ill 
prepared to take care of those who suffered in our cause. 
But they were still very defective. Private houses, which 
had been left tenantless by the frightened occupants, who 
had fled during the existence of the gunboat panic, were 
many of them impressed for hospital purposes. But so 
short a time had been left for preparation, that the sick and 
wounded, in some instances, were brought into houses which 
alone possessed the friendly shelter of the roof and walls to 
accommodate the sufferers. On the evening of the battle 
of Seven Pines we saw men wounded and bleeding brought 
into private hospitals, only opened a day or two before that 
time, in which there was neither bed, nor pillow, nor food, 
nor surgeon, nor nurse, nor cook, nor anything but the bare 
floors to receive their shattered, aching limbs. Their wants 
were supplied in a few hours by the citizens, who cooked 
and sent refreshments, beds, pillows and blankets, water, 
soap, and all that could for the time reheve the helpless suf- 
ferers. Surgeons were procured, and kind and tender 
women bathed the bleeding wounds, washed fi'om the hair 
and beards of the soldiers the stiffened mud and gore, and 
administered refreshments and restoratives to the worn- 
out, weary, dying men. Kindly words were whispered 
which strengthened the fainting spirit, and tears of sym- 
pathy coursed the cheek of woman as she bent over the 
couch, and served as a healing balm to the bleeding wound, 
and a Hf e-infusing spirit to the brave fellows who had fought 
for their wives, their children, their homes. 

On this evening, as a kind woman bent over the stalwart 



136 THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 

figure of a noble Georgian, and waslied from his hair and 
beard the stiffened mud of the swamps of the Chickahom- 
iny, where he fell from a wound through the upper portion 
of the right lung, and then gently bathed the bleeding gash 
left by the Minie ball, as he groaned and feebly opened his 
eyes, he grasped her hand, and in broken whispers, faint 
from suffering, gasping at every breath, " I could — bear — all 
— this — for myself — alone — but my — ^wife and my — six Httle 
— ones," (and then the large tears rolled down his weather- 
beaten cheeks,) and overcome he could only add, "Oh, God! 
oh, God ! — how will — they endure it ?" She bent her head and 
wept in sympathy. The tall man's frame was shaking with 
agony. She placed to his fevered lips a cooling draught, and 
whispered : " Think of yourself just now ; God may raise 
you up to them, and if not, He will provide for and comfort 
them." He feebly grasped her hand once more, and a look 
of gratitude stole over his manly face, and he whispered, 
"God bless you! God bless you! God bless you! kind 
stranger !" 

Our summer's work had begun. The daily rounds at the 
hospitals, from dawn till night were performed by the 
ladies of Richmond, to whom those sad duties, though so 
painful, were the chief delight. In no other way did they 
feel that they could properly testify, their gratitude to 
the soldiers who were periling their Hves for the safety 
of the women of their country. Nobly, cheerfully and 
perseveringly were these duties performed. All day they 
would sit amid the sickening odors of the hospital, fan 
the fevered brow, and bathe the gaping wound, and read 
from the book of life, and whisper words of strength and 
hope to the despondent, and point with the finger of faith 
to the glories of the upper world, where no more strife 
shall ever enter, where the battle-cry is never heard, to the 
poor soldier as he approached the " dark valley of the shad- 
ow of death." It was woman's duty to minister thus to the 
suffering and dying, and to place upon the breast of the 
youthful unknown hero the flowers of summer, to be borne 



Jackson's campaign in the valley. 137 

with him to his last resting-place in the burial-ground of 
the soldier, — love offerings of national gratitude. 

The casualties in the battle of Seven Pines did not ex- 
tend largely to our prominent officers. Much concern was 
felt for the condition of General Johnston, but a few days 
develoi)ed signs of recovery for him, and we were com- 
forted. 

Conspicuous in the fight at Seven Pines was the daring 
impetuosity of the troops from Louisiana. Maddened by 
the thoug-ht of the tyrannical rule of Butler, they rushed 
into the fight with the battle-cry, — "Butler and New Or- 
leans!" and again would ring out : "Boys, remember But- 
ler !" and with the shock of a hurricane they drove before 
them the opposing foe. When the battles were over, on the 
field occupied by the enemy was found hanging on the branch 
of a tree a Louisiana soldier, on whose breast was fastened 
a placard, with the ominous words : " No quarter for Lou- 
isianians."* 

The thunderings of cannon had ceased, the shower of 
IMinie balls no more fell upon the heads of oui* soldiers, 
and we were permitted to peep beyond the bars of our siege 
prison for a httle distance into the 6uter world. 



CHAPTEK XXVL 

Jackson's campaign in the valley. 

WE must leave, for a little time, the Confederate capi- 
tal and its surroundings to look after our indomi- 
table Jackson in his operations in the Valley, and ascertain 
what he did for our security in Richmond. 

We left him in March retreating up the valley from 
Kemstovm, to find him in May routing the army of Milroy 

* We have since heard from a Federal officer that the "black flag " 
was raised against them on that day. 



138 Jackson's campaign in the y.\lley. 

at McDowell, fearlessly moving on his little army against 
General Banks at Winchester, who had come among ns 
with all the confidence and assurance of a conqueror, and 
driving him ingloriousiy from his stronghold with such suc- 
cess that the Federal commander wrote to the authorities 
at Washington, when on the opposite side of the Potomac, 
" There were never more grateful hearts in the same number 
of men, than when at midday on the 30th of May we stood 
on the opposite shore." He had already on the 23d of 
May driven the Federals from, and taken possession of 
Front Royal. 

Carefully guarding the prisoners and si^oils, we find him 
hastily retreating up the Valley from "Winchoster, prevent- 
ing the junction of General Fremont and General Shields, 
engaging the enemy at Harrisonburg, (where we lost our 
gallant knight, the noble Ashby,) and then hastening on 
with his reliable compeer, General Ew^ell, to fight Fremont 
and Shields at Port Repubhc, and Cross Keys in Rocking- 
ham County, and on the 8th and 9th da^^s of May routing 
their forces, driving them across the Shenandoah, where 
they drew up in line of battle, awaiting, in impotent idle- 
ness, further pursuit from our worn out and exhausted 
forces. 

Finding it altogether impracticable to scale a Stonewall, 
when protected with a chevaux defrise of rebel muskets and 
bayonets, Fremont took up his line of retreat towards 
Winchester, and abandoned the idea of the need of his 
assistance to General McClellan at Richmond. 

This brilliant campaign was accomplished with but a 
small force, but they were under the most superior disci- 
pline, and inspired by the bravery and example of the 
bravest and best of men. A gifted historian writes : — 

' ' This famous campaign must, indeed, take a rank in the history of 
the war unrivalled by any other in the rapidity of its movements, and 
in the brilliancy of its results, accomplished with the means at its com- 
mand. Its heroic deeds revived the hopes of the South, and threw the 
splendor of sunlight over the long lines of the Confederate host. By a 



Jackson's calipaign in the valley. 139 

series of rapid movements, which occupied but a few weeks, General 
Jackson had, with inferior numbers, defeated successfully four gene- 
rals, with as many annies, swept the Valley of Virginia of hostile forces, 
made the Federal authorities tremble in their capital, and frustrated 
the combination by which the enemy had purposed to aid General 
McClellan, and environ Richmond by immense converging armies." 

Jackson was then prepared to bring his invincible little 
army to the immediate defence of the capital. 

But from the brilliant achievements of this campaign 
another leaf .was added to our chaplet of mourning. Ashby 
was no more ! The brave, gallant, daring young cavaher 
of Virginia had fallen ! Our drink was mingled with weep- 
ing, and the mourning wreath was growing heavy. Ah, how 
heavy ! It is not mthin the power of our pen to do jus- 
tice to a character so nobly spotless. All the elements that 
combine to make and embellish a character, truly pure and 
great, were possessed eminently by this young man. His 
name, his deeds are immortal. They are a precious legacy 
to Virginia, to the South. His glorious renown their youth 
may emulate. Cut down, alas ! in the blossomed beauty of 
a manhood that would have ripened into such perfection. 

" The good die first. 
But they whose hearts are dry as summer dust 
Bum to the socket !" 

Peace to thy ashes, young hero ! We would not awaken 
thee from thy dreamless slumber, and behold the throes of 
agony that would tear thy soul, by the defeat of the cause 
which inspired thee to such deeds of daring. We would not 
wish that thy bright beaming glance should take in the now 
wasted, but once beautiful and happy Valley of the Shanan- 
doah, over which thy milk-white steed bore thee on to 
world-renowned feats of heroism. We would not have thy 
brave, yet gentle heart riven by sight of the bare chimneys, 
the blackened walls, the desolate homesteads, all along the 
pathway of the invader ! We would not have thee tortur- 
ed by the groans of the widowed, the childless, the orphaned ! 
Virginia, thy cherished mother, is a widow and weeps for 



140 Stuart's eaid. 

her children ! Eest, under the unfading wreath, woven by 
thj chivahy, over which Fame has flung her immortal 
light, to gild with its lustre the pages of all the future. 

"Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er, 
Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking, 
Dream of battle-fields no more, 
Days of conflict — nights of waking ! " 

With the exception of the famous Black Horse Company, 
our Confederate Cavalry had thus far done very little to 
entitle them to distinguished notice. Mounted on good 
horses, which they managed with the ease and skill of Cen- 
taurs, being trained, many of them from boyhood almost 
constantly in the saddle, they were a gay, rollicking set, 
petted and feted wherever they appeared. The orderings 
of the war had been such as to leave undeveloped the 
powers they were destined to bring into action, in a career 
of briUiancy and dashing heroism. . The time had at last 
come when they should redeem their reputation from cer- 
tain reproaches cast upon it, and loom up into enviable 
notice upon the Confederate horizon. 



CHAPTER XXVn. 



STUART S RAID. 



ON the 12th of June, when the battles of Seven Pines 
and Fair Oaks began to be spoken of as " things that 
were," General Stuart sallied out with his well-mounted 
horsemen, to make a reconnoissance in the rear of the ene- 
my. Inspired by the novelty of the adventure, and burn- 
ing with purpose high and animated, these bold Southern 
cavaliers dashed on across the Chickahominy, through the 
grounds of the enemy in Hanover and New Kent counties, 
destroying their camps, dispersing their forces, and making 
their way around to the vicinity of the White House, on the 
Pamunkey River, intercepted a train of cars, (and by shoot- 



stuaet's raid. 141 

ing the engineer, they nearly succeeded in capturing the 
train,) and destroyed millions of dollars' worth of stores be- 
longing to the enemy, thoroughly acquainted with his posi- 
tion. All this they accomplished, besides the capture of 
hundreds of prisoners, mules and horses, with the loss of 
only one of their number, the brave and gallant Captain T^e- 
toni, of Essex County, Virginia. '\\rhile nobly leading a 
charge he fell, pierced by five bullets. 

From the journal of an officer on General Stuart's staff 
we read, "At the same time we had destroyed the enemy's 
communication, burned property to the amount of milhons, 
captured hundreds of prisoners, horses and mules, and put 
the whole Federal army in fear and consternation. 

" AVe were warmly greeted everywhere on our return, and 
every sort of honor was paid to General Stuart's name. 
This ovation was extended to officers and men, and wherever 
any one who had taken part in this famous expedition was 
seen, he was besieged with questions, gazed at as a hero, and 
entreated to relate his own adventures and the story of the 
ride. 

"The Eichmond press teemed vrith praises of General 
Stuart and his followers, and even the journals of New York 
did not fail to render homage to the conception and execu- 
tion of the bold enterprise." t' ^l, 

Of the death of Captain L^toni, General Stuart, in his 
official report of the Pamunkey expedition, says : " The next 
squadron moved to the front under the lamented Captain 
Letoni, making a most brilliant and successful charge upon 
the enemy's picked ground, and after a hotly-contested hand- 
to-hand conflict, put him to flight, but not until the gallant 
Captain had sealed his devotion to his native soil with his 
blood." 

• The burial of Letojai is beautifully portrayed in an extract 
from a private letter: — "Lieutenant Letoni carried his 
brother's dead body to Mrs. Brockenborougli's plantation an 
hour or two after his death. On this sad and lonely errand 
he met a party of Yankees, who followed him to Mrs. Brock- 



142 stuaet's raid. 

enborouglis, and stopping there told him that as soon as he 
phiced his brother's body in friendlj^ hands he must surren- 
der himself a prisoner. Mrs. Brockenborough sent for an 
Episcopal clergyman to perform the funeral ceremonies, but 
the enemy would not let him pass. 

. Then, with a few other ladies, a fair-haired httle girl, whose 
apron was filled with white flowers, and a few faithful slaves, 
who stood reverently near, a pious Virginia matron read 
the solemn and beautiful burial service over the cold, still 
form of one of the noblest gentlemen and most intrepid 
officers of the Confederate army. She watched the sods 
heaped on the coffin lid, then sinking on her knees in sight 
and hearing of the foe, she committed his soul's welfare and 
the stricken hearts he had left behind him, to the mercy of 
the All Father. i^Hin^ 

The fate of the lamented L^toni is touchingly described 
in verse by the pen of the gifted poet J. E. Thompson, of 
Virginia, and we copy it in full, as commemorative of the 
noble devotion of the women of the State, and of the ruth- 
less cruelty of the enemy : 

«* The combat raged not long, but ours the day; 

And though the hosts had compassed us around 
Our little band rode proudly on its way, 

Leaving one gallant comrade glory-crowned, 
Unburied on the field he died to gain, 

Single of all his men amid the hostile slain. 

One moment on the battle's edge he stood, 
Hope's halo like a helmet round his hair — 

The next beheld him dabbled in his blood. 
Prostrate in death, and yet in death how fair ! 

Even thus he passed through the red gate of strife, 
From earthly crowns and palms to an immortal life. 

*' A brother bore his body from the field, 

And gave it unto strangers' hands that closed 
The calm blue eyes, on earth forever sealed, 
And tenderly the slender limbs composed: 
Strangers, yet sisters, who with Mary's love. 
Sat by the open tomb, and weeping looked above." 



STUARTS RAID. 143 

*' A little cliild strewed roses on the bier- 
Pale roses, not more stainless than his soul, 

Nor yet more fragrant than his life sincere. 

That blossomed with good actions— brief but whole. 

The aged matron and the faithful slave 
Approached with lowly feet the hero's lowly grave. 

" No man of God might say the burial rite 
Above the ' rebel/— thus declared the foe 

That blanched before him in the deadly fight, 
But woman's voice in accents soft and low 

Trembling with pity, touched with pathos, read 
O'er his haUowed dust the ritual for the dead. 

'• 'Tis sown in weakness, it is raised in power," 

Softly the promise floated on the air. 
And the sweet breathings of the sunset hour 

Came back responsive to the mourner's prayer. 
Gently they laid him underneath the sod. 

And left him with his fame, his country, and his God. 

** Let us not weep for him whose deeds endure ; 

So young, so brave, so beautiful, he died 
As he had wished to die ;— the past is sure. 

Whatever yet of sorrow may betide 
Those who still linger on the stormy shore, 
Change cannot harm him now, nor fortune touch him more. 

"And when Virginia, leaning on her spear, 
Vidrix et vincere, the conflict done. 
Shall raise her mailed hand to wipe the tear 

That starts as she recalls each martyred son, 
No prouder memory her breast shall sway 
Than thine, our early lost, lamented Letoni." 

This expedition of General Stuart served to excite a spirit 
of adventure in his men. It gave a fresh impetus to the 
cavahy service, and the brilHant, dashing exploits of General 
" Jeb" Stuart and his gallant horsemen, became, from that 
time, famous in the annals of the war. 



144 THE SEYEN DAYS' BATTLE 

CHAPTER XXVm. 

THE SEVEN DAYS BATTLES' ON THE PENINSULA. 

FROM its relative local position in the heart of Virginia, 
the principal theatre of the war, Richmond was the point 
of the greatest strategic importance in the Southern Confed- 
eracy. Its capture would necessarily involve the surrender 
of the State to our enemies, and drive us into a more in- 
secure position in one or the other of the States farther 
south. From its j)olitical importance as the seat of govern- 
ment, the surrender of Richmond would also so weaken the 
confidence of the people that a speedy demorahzation might 
be expected, and all hope of triumph in the cause of the 
South, in consequence, extinguished. The capture of our 
capital w^as, therefore the most cherished aim of the Feder- 
als — the security of Richmond the all-important object of 
the Confederates. To secure their ends the rival govern- 
ments left no means unapplied. 

The Federal army, furnished with all that was needful to 
compass the destruction of a weaker foe, was declared to be, 
in all its appointments, " ready and complete." It was still 
knocking at the gates of Richmond. The repulse of the 
gun-boats and the defeat at Seven Pines had not sufficed to 
drive it from the vicinity of the Rebel Capital. The trepi- 
dation of our government had subsided, nor was this alone 
calculated to reassure the fainting courage of the people. 
Rising superior to temporary misfortune, we felt in the name 
of our great Commander-in-Chief a talisman of security, 
and our faith in the noble ardor and sublime fortitude of our 
soldiery, triumphed over the trembling apprehensions of the 
government. 

At this period a council of war was held in Richmond. 
Nobly prominent in this memorable caucus stood our be- 
loved chieftain, General Lee. Sustaining him were Generals 
Di ;A. Hill, A. P. Hill, Longstreet, Wise, Magruder, Branch, 
Ripley, Anderson, Whiting, and Huger; while calmly look- 



ON THE PENINSULAlf. 145 

ing, with the strange, indomitable courage settling on his 
grave impenetrable face, was our immortal Stonewall Jackson. 

The question under consideration was whether Richmond 
should be surrendered to the young Napoleon, with his in- 
vincible host, or defended even to its altars and its firesides. 
The latter was agreed upon, the means for its accomplish- 
ment decided, and the members of this remarkable caucus 
adjourned to meet next amid the thunder, and smoke, and 
storm of conflict. This occurred on the 25th of June. 

On the afternoon of that day, just before sunset, the 
writer of these pages stood upon the roof of the Capitol, 
and unassisted by the use of glasses, saw on all sides, as far 
as the eye could reach, the encamjpments of the soldiery, in 
waiting for the ntost furious contest of arms ever then ex- 
pected on this continent. The immediate proximity to the 
terrible theatre upon which were so soon to be enacted 
scenes appaUing in fearfuhiess, wrought in her soul emotions 
indescribable. No thought of fear or danger possessed her. 
Her faith in the triumph of what she conscientiously regarded 
to be the right, made failure altogether improbable; nor did 
a di-eam of glory thrill her s^oirit, but a dire de]3recation of 
the dreadful means for the purchase of victory. As in child- 
hood she asked, why must wars ever come ? Beneath her lay 
the white tents of the might}^ host, dotting the landscape 
like snow-flakes in winter. In a few days this mighty 
host might be dispersed and wandering like a frightened 
flock. As she stood, and gazed, and thought, she turned to 
a friend, and asked, "When will the battle begin?" The 
words had only just escaped her lips, when the distant boom 
of the cannon disturbed the stUlness of the afternoon, and 
then in rapid succession, somewhere along the lines the oft 
repeated "boom ! boom! boom!" furnished a reply for the 
gentleman, and he exclaimed, almost in a whisper, " The 
ball is opened! the skirmishing has commenced!" From 
the depths of her soul she prayed, "Lord have mercy !" * 

It is said that the Emperor Napoleon I., in the days of the 
French Revolution, when a mere stripling, and an interested 
7 



146 THE SEVEN DAYS' BATITJE 

witness of the exciting scenes of the French capital, re- 
marked of the noise of artillery, " That shall be my music." 

On the morning of the 26th of June, just as the day 
dawned, we were awakened by the dreadful music which 
gave such exquisite dehght to the Emperor. At Mechanics- 
yille, a few miles distant from our city, all day the battle 
raged, and when the twilight came on, and the wounded were 
arriving, and we asked for tidings from the field, we heard 
of a terrible fight. But " Jackson is in the rear of the ene- 
my, and all is well." Sleep fled from the eyehds of many. 
There were none of us who had not friends, the nearest and 
dearest, exposed to the dreadful hazards of battle, and we 
could give no time to repose when our hearts were torn with 
apprehensions for their safety. 

By day-break on the morning of the 27th, the dreadful 
music once more filled our ears, and some of us, unable to 
find diversion in our more immediate surroundings sought 
quiet retreats in the suburbs of the city to Hsten to the sounds 
of conflict. As we stood on Maury Hill, in the extreme 
western part of the city, the roar of artillery seemed inter- 
minable, and the ratthng of musketry like a shower of hail. 

Again all day the battle raged, and when the night came 
on, and friends, wounded, were brought in, the tidings came 
again, " All is well !" The battle at Gaines's Mill had been 
won by the Hills and General Longstreet, who had defeated 
Fitz John Porter, and had diiven him beyond the Chicka- 
hominy. 

"VVe were, however, in a perilous situation. General Mc- 
Clellan had succeeded in posting a portion of his army on the 
side of the Chickahominy next to Richmond, and the dislodg- 
ment of it v\^as a matter of the most profound importance. 
But the talismanic words which found expression on every 
tongue kept us reassured. " Jackson is in their rear," 
" Stonewall is behind them," and we looked forward with 
cal^ though intense interest for the developments of the 
coming day. On the 28th and 29th occurred the battle of 
the Peach Orchard. The famous flank movement of General 



ON THE PENINSULA- 147 

Jackson, and the furious charge of Stuart's cavalry swept 
everything before them with the fury of the whirlwind. The 
attack upon the Federals was terrible — the carnage dread- 
ful. The enemy fell back across the Chickahominy, and the 
battle was gloriously victorious to the Confederates ! 

Night brought the news to us in Kichmond, and closed in 
mercy over the horrid scenes of carnage and strife. " All 
is well," was once more the tidings, and our hearts, 
though grateful, were -lifted up in prayer to God, to 
stay the tide of blood. The next morning was the Sabbath. 
We understood that the enemy were retreating. The clouds 
were lifting fi'om over Bichmond, and we prayed, " If 
it be Thy will, oh God, drive from us our enemies, but let 
no more blood be shed." But it was not to be so. On that 
morning our forces engaged those of General McClellan at 
Savage's Station, on the Yoi'k Biver Bailroad, where they 
attempted to break through our lines, and were, to use an 
expression of one of their men, (taken prisoner,) "mowed 
down," and they left to continue a retreat, which was begin- 
ning to appear to them a hopeless one. -^ 

The sounds of artillery were growing fainter and fainter 
to us in the city, as the enemy were driven further and fur- 
ther away from Bichmond, and we knew that " all " for us 
continued to be "well." 

By daybreak on Monday morning the pursuit of the ene- 
my was resumed, and on that day occurred the engagement 
at Frazer's Farm. It rivalled in the terror of its details any 
battle of the series of the previous days. Our forces were 
almost wholly unsupported by artillery, and worn out and 
exhausted by their long continued fighting. General Hill's 
division had wrought prodigies of valor, but were at one 
time driven back, which revived the courage of our enemies, 
and for a while they made a bold stand. General HiU, no- 
ticing the temporary advantage to the enemy, rode rapidly 
up to the position of his brigade, and cheered them on en- 
couragingly. Catching inspiration from his gallant conduct, 
they loudly caught up the cheers of thei,r General, and 



148 . THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE 

rushed fiercely on the foe. Supposing they were heavily 
reinforced, the Federals paused, and this long contin- 
ued fight concluded in the winning of the field by the 
Confederates. The morning of the succeeding day brought 
to us in Richmond the tidings of the battle of Frazer's 
Farm. It was evident to us that the fighting could not con- 
tinue much longer. The enemy were retreating to seek the 
friendly cover of their gunboats, and the chief object of the 
fight of that day would be to prevent and cut off the re- 
treat, and thus capture the army of McClellan. The utmost 
anxiety prevailed in the city. The faint booming sounds of 
the cannon signalled that they were much further off. Yet 
the issue was not decided, the interest was nob diminished. 

Early on the morning of thelst of July the fight was re- 
newed by General Magruder. It is said that on no day pre- 
vious had the fighting been so terrible, or confined to so 
small a space. There the enemy were strongly fortified, and 
our forces, few in number, anxiously hoping for reinforce- 
ments, charged across an open field, upon belching batte- 
ries, under a sheet of flame from artillery. In this fight 
General Magruder was accused of great rashness, and many 
declared that he was under the intoxicating influence of ar- 
dent spirits ; but whether frbm this cause the lives of so 
many of our men were sacrificed, or the want of proper re- 
inforcements, or the superior skill displayed by General 
McClellan in the management of his retreat, it was safely 
effected, and under cover of his gunboats, on .which the ar- 
my took passage, the siege was raised, and the capital of the 
Confederacy relieved from the presence of its dangerous 
visitors, and once more the sunlight of prosperity shed its 
lustre on the Confederate cause. 

To the master mind that conceived the brilliant plan 
which brought to us success, be all credit given ; nor be 
much less accorded to the wonderfal men who always made 
the flank movement in the right moment, and in the rear of 
the enemy wrought the distress to him which brought to us 
the victory. The actions of our officers were determined 



ON THE PENINSULA. 149 

and irresistible, and it seems wonderful tlia-t so few mistakes 
were made through such a long and protracted series of 
the hottest engagements. Public opinion reflected rather 
severely on General Magruder and General Huger. It was 
said if Magruder had been less rash, and Huger less tardy, 
the Federal army had never reached the security of their 
gunboats. 

But one thing now appears evident : had General McClel- 
lan received proper reinforcements, he might never have 
been compelled to retreat, and had he been less skillful 
as a commander, he could not have saved his army from 
capture. It has ever since been regarded at the South 
as one of the most masterly retreats in the records of mili- 
tary history. AVe of Eichmond are only too fully aware 
who it was that gave us the greatest cause for alarm, and 
shook most seriously the foundations of the rebel capital. 
And when we remember the superior advantages of Gene- 
ral Lee's position, the immense numbers under his command, 
and the numerous reserves never under fire during the seven 
days' fight, our admiration for the skill and generalship of 
the Federal commander is unqualified. 

Undisguised regrets were expressed at the failure of the 
Confederates to secure the army of the Federals, but a feel- 
ing of intense thankfulness, too deep for words, went up to 
God from hearts so long kept in anxiety during the bloody 
scenes around our city. 

The seven days' battles around Eichmond left us enough 
to do. We had neither the time nor inclination to make 
merry over the triumphs of our arms. There were no noisy 
jubilations pver this succession of victories. There were no 
bells rung, no cannon fired, no illuminations, no indecent 
manifestations of exulting victory over our enemies. Pris- 
oners were not insulted in our streets. Captured Generals 
were allowed on their parole to walk unmolested through 
the city ; but there was a deep undercurrent of intense grat- 
itude, which was not uttered in measiu'ed phrases, but which 
beamed from every countenance, which was felt in the thrill- 



150 

ing pressure of the hand, which was seen in the tear that 
sparkled in the eye of woman, which was read in the cheerful 
serenity which brooded over the late heaving and terrified 
city, and the gradual hum of business, which took the place 
of the thunders of battle. 

But not wholly was business suspended during the entire 
time. The more thoughtful, and those with whom self re- 
spect triumphed over the extortionate greed of Mammon, 
suspended their usual occupations, and devoted themselves 
to the rehef of the helpless sufferers nightly crowded into 
our city from the battle-fields. The labors of the hospitals 
admitted no recreation. Duties to the sick and wounded 
and dying were performed by many of our noble women, 
while their hearts ached with a fresh thrill of agony at ev- 
ery repeated sound of the cannon. Selfishness is inherent 
in human nature. They were keenly alive to their own pe- 
culiar troubles, while none the less actively were their sympa- 
thies called forth towards the helpless strangers they at- 
tended. We had all dear ones to think of, to be anxious 
for ; but every soldier was our brother, and distinctions 
were forgotten when their suffering was to be alleviated. 

Richmond suffered heavily in the loss of citizens in these 
battles. There was scarcely a family that had not some one 
of its numbers in the field. Mothers nervously watched for 
any who might bring to them news of their boys. Sisters 
and friends grew pale when a horseman rode up to their 
doors, and could scarcely nerve themselves to listen to the 
tidings he brought. Young wives clasped their children to 
their bosoms, and in agony imagined themselves widows 
and their little ones orphans. Thoughtful husbands, and 
sons, and brothers, and lovers, dispatched messengers to re- 
port their condition whenever they could, but, alas ! the 
worst fears of many were realized. 

Conspicuous amongst the dead of Richmond was the. 
young Colonel of the Fourth Texas regiment. He had won 
honorable distinction in Italy, under Garibaldi. News ar- 
rived of his instant death on the field, and his heart- 



ON THE PENINSULA. 151 

broken family sat up to receive his body until after tlie hour 
of midnight ; but when it arrived, and "he lives " was told 
his mother, the reaction of joy almost deprived her of being. 
She could not realize it. The revulsion was too great. He 
spent a few days of mortal agony, and then a sad, mourn- 
ful procession of heart-broken fi-iends and relatives, and the 
riderless horse of the young warrior, announced, ah ! how 
sadly, that Eichmond's gallant son. Colonel Bradfute War- 
wick, had fallen ! 

A iTorseman rode up to the door of one of our houses on 

street, and cried out to the anxious mother : " Your 

son, madam, is safe, but Captain is killed!" On the 

opposite side, on the portico of her dwelling, a fair young 

girl, the betrothed of Captain , was said to have been 

sitting at the moment, and thus heard the terrible announce- 
ment ! 

Every family received the bodies of the wounded or dead 
of their friends, and every house was a house of mourning 
or a private hospital. 

The clouds were Hfted, and the skies brightened upon 
political prospects, but death held a carnival in our city. 
The weather was excessively hot. It was midsummer, gan- 
grene and erysipelas attacked the wounded, and those who 
might have been cured of their wounds were cut down by 
these diseases. 

Our hospitals were loathsome with the bloated, disfig- 
ured countenances of the victims of disease, rather than 
from ghastly wounds. Sickening odors filled the atmos- 
phere, and soldiers' funerals were passing at every moment. 
Frequently they would be attended by only one or two of 
the convalescent patients of the hospitals, and sometimes 
the unknown dead would be borne to the grave, with only 
the driver of the hearse or cart to attend it.* 



* One of tlie grave-dige:ers at a soldiers' cemeteiy said to the writer, 
when speaking of this time, (at a subsequent period,) "We could not 



152 THE SE^-EN DAYS' BATTLE 

Tlie moiiruful strains of the "Dead Marcli," and the 
sounds of the muffled drum, betokened an officer en route 
for "the city of the dead," but these honors could not be 
accorded the poor fellows from the ranks. There were too 
many of. them passing away — the means for costly funerals 
were not within our reach — yet were not our hearts less 
saddened by the less imposing cortege that was borne along 
"with the private nor by the rude coffin in the cart, slowly 
wending its way unattended by friends, to the soldiers' cem- 
etery. Mothers and sisters, and dear friends came from all 
parts of the South, to nurse and comfort dear ones in our 
hosj)itals, and some, alas! arrived to find a husband, 
brother, or son already dead or dying, and had the sad 
companionship of the dead back to their homes. 

Our best and brightest young men were passing away. 
Many of them, the most of them, were utter strangers to us; 
but the wounded soldier ever found a warm place in our 
hearts, and they were strangers no more. A Southern lady 
has written some beautiful lines, suggested by the death of 



dig graves fast enongli to bury the soldiers. They were sometimes 
brought and put out of the hearse or cart, beside an open grave, and we 
were compelled to bury them in turn. Frequently we were obliged 
to leave them over night, when, sometimes, the bodies would 
swell, and burst the coffins in which they were placed, so slightly 
were they made. Our work was a horrible one ! The odor was stifling. 
On one occasion, one of our grave-diggers contracted disease from a 
dead body, which he buried, that came to him in this terrible condition, 
and he died from it in less than twenty-four hours. After that we were 
almost afraid to contuiue our business, but then the soldiers must be 
buried, poor fellows !" 

We listened to this horrible account as we stood on the hillside, and 
saw the hillocks innumerable, that marked the graves of our soldiers. 
A little girl, who visited the cemetery, on returning to the city said : — 
' ' Why, grandma, the soldiers' graves are as thick as potatoe-hills !" And 
she saw only a moiety of the many which crowded the hillsides around 
our city, for this was an extension of Holljnvood cemetery only. There 
were several cemeteries especially laid out for the soldiers, and they 
were soon all filled with the mounds that marked the soldier dead. 



ON THE PENINSULA.. 153 

a youttiful soldier m one of our hospitals. So deeply toucli- 
ing is the sentiment, and such the exquisite pathos of the 
poety, that we shall insert them in our memorial of these 
sad times. When all sentiment was well nigh cmshed 
out, which courts the visit of the muse, these lines sent a 
thrill of ectasy to our hearts, and comfort and sweetness to 
the bereaved in many far off homes of the South. Of 
" Somebody's Darling," she writes : — 

♦' Into a ward of the white- washed halls 

T^Tiere the dead and the dying lay ; — 
Wounded by bayonets, shells and balls, 

Somebody's darling was borne one day. 
Somebody's darling so young and so brave, 

Wearing yet on his sweet, pale face. 
Soon to be laid in the dust of the grave. 

The lingering light of his boyhood's grace. 

"Matted and damp are the curls of gold, 

Kissing the snow of that fair young brow ; 
Pale are the lips of delicate mould. 

Somebody's darling is dying now ! 
Back from his beautiful, blue-veined brow, 

Brush the wandering waves of gold ; 
Cross his hands on his bosom now, 

Somebody's darling is still and cold ! 

«* Kiss him once, for somebody's sake. 

Murmur a prayer, soft and low ; 
One bright curl from its fair mates take, 

They were somebody's pride, you know. 
Somebody's hand hath rested there, 

Was it a mother's, soft and white ? 
Or have the lips of a sister fair. 

Been baptized in their waves of light ? 

•' God knows best ! He has somebody's love, 

Somebody's heart enshrined him there ; 
Somebody wafted his name above, 

Night and mom on the ^dngs of prayer. 
Somebody wept when he marched away, 

Looking so handsome, brave and grand ! 
Somebody's kiss on his forehead lay. 

Somebody clung to his parting hand. 



154 THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE 

"Somebody's watchmg, and waiting for him, 

Yearning to hold liim again to her heart, 
And there he lies — with his blue eyes dim, 

And his smihng, child-like lips apart ! 
Tenderly bury the fair young dead, 

Pausing to drop o'er his grave a tear ; 
Carve on the wooden slab at his head, 

' Somebody's darling is lying here ! ' " 

Were we to begin to recount the thrilling scenes of the 
hospitals, we should never know where to stop. They are 
graven on our hearts with a pen of iron, dipped in the 
blood of heroes and martyrs. They can never fade fi'om 
memory as long as stand the fair hills of Virginia, made un- 
even by the mounds which cover the mouldering remains of 
the soldier. The picture is ours, through all time and 
down the endless lapse of the ages of eternity. The month 
of July of 1862 can never be forgotten in Kichmond. We 
lived in one immense hospital, and breathed the vapors of 
the charnel house. 

But we walked not in darkness wholly — there gleamed 
light ahead. Faint ghmmerings of future peace and inde- 
pendence, threw over our hopes faint streaks of their wel- 
come dawn. 

Our arms had been gloriously victorious, our enemies had 
been severely chastised, "the Grand Army of the North" had 
been driven back by our invincible forces, their arrogant 
boastings had been quieted for the time, and we vainly 
hoped we ^acj^ so worthily commended ourselves to the 
notice of foreign nations as to compel honorable recogni- 
tion. We craved not this favor from the sympathy our condi- 
tion might excite, but felt that we might expect and demand 
it for meritorious worth. We hoped that the severe chas- 
tisement inflicted on our enemies would dampen the pur- 
suit of our subjugation, and bring to us the desired peace, 
and liberty ! Alas ! we sadly miscalculated the action of our 
friends across the ocean, and the energy and perseverance 
of our enemies. The snake was not kiUed, it was only 



ON THE PENINSULA. 155 

" scotched," and very little time was left us to contemplate 
the security temporarily brought to us by the sacrificing of 
the Hves of so many fellow-creatures. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

pope's ORDEKS CAPTURES LIBBY PRISON. 

"TXTHEN General Pope was placed in command of the 
VV Federal army, he issued an order, requiring "that 
all commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, and de- 
tached commands, will proceed immediately to arrest all 
disloyal male citizens within their lines, or within their 
reach in rear of their respective commands. Such as are 
wining- to take the oath of alleodance to the United States, 
and will furnish security for its observance, shall be per- 
mitted to remain at theii' homes, and pursue in good faith 
their accustomed avocations ; those who refuse shall be 
conducted South, beyond the extreme pickets of this army, 
and be notified that if found again anywhere within our 
lines, or at any point in the rear, they shall be considered 
spies, and subjected to the extreme rigor of mihtary law. 
If any person having taken the oath of allegiance above 
specified, be found to have violated it, he shall be shot, and 
his property seized and ai^x^hed to the public use." 

By another order of Brigadier General Steinwehr, of 
Pope's command, it was proposed to hold under arrest the 
most prominent citizens in the districts occupied by the 
enemy, as hostages, to suffer death in retaliation for the 
shooting of Yankee soldiers by " bushwhackers," by which 
term was meant the citizens of the South who had taken up 
arms to defend their homes and families. 

These orders were intended mainly to frighten our men 
into submission and to require an oath which involved the 
perjury of them^selves, or the exposure of their wives and 



156 POPE'S ORDERS. 

cliilclren to ruthless hordes, devoid of all principles of man- 
liness, courage, or bravery. 

In the county of Spotsylvania, about twenty miles above 
Fredericksburg, there lived a physician, a man of some in- 
fluence, vih.0 had quietly followed the practice of his pro- 
fession, but who, nevertheless, exerted all the influence of 
which he was possessed, in behalf of the South. Through 
the misrepresentations of the spies who prowled around the 
country, he was arrested under the charge of being a cap- 
tain of guerrillas, and was taken from his home on a Monday 
morning, before breakfast, by a detachm.ent of Federal cav- 
alry. He was commanded, under pain of death, not to look 
back at his weeping ^^ife and little children, who stood on 
the portico of his dwelling. Thus rudely and insultingly 
treated, he was carried to their encampment outside of 
Fredericksburg, and when he made his appearance under so 
c]ose a guard, was surrounded by a mob who cried, " Hang 
him ! shoot him !" " Hang him ! shoot him !" Some came 
to tear him from his horse for that purpose, and could only 
be restrained by the most energetic remonstrances and 
threats from their ofiicers. " If I am to die," he said, " I 
am not willing to be sacrificed without a hearing," and he 
demanded to be carried before General King, who then held 
command of Fredericksburg. He was accordingly carried 
into the town, and not being able to get an audience with 
the commanding general, he was thrown into a granary 
devoted to prison purposes, with not a mouthful to eat — 
there to await the pleasure of the general, and perhaps 
death from the bullet, or on the gallows. 

After a hearing from General King, and upon the testi- 
mony of other prisoners, taken from his neighborhood, one 
of whom implored on his knees that the prisoner's life 
might not be taken on the false representations of spies, 
the doctor was released on parole, and sent under an escort 
beyond the extreme limits of General Pope's lines. His 
agony at the thought of his young wife and three little chil- 
dren left unprotected in the immediate vicinity of lawless 



LIEBY PKISON. 157 

soldiery, increased tlie unliappiness of his own situation. 
He returned to his home to find it actually deserted. A 
faithful negro servant had conveyed his mistress and her 
children, and all the domestics of the establishment to a 
place of safety beyond the Federal Hues, and out of reach 
of further persecution from their enemies. The doctor 
came on to Richmond, and the first use made of him by the 
government, was to place him as surgeon in the Libby 
Prison, where, in a very few days, he gi'eeted some of his 
former persecutors. 

We very fully understand, when we aj)proach the history 
of this building, that we are treading upon dangerous 
ground. If retahation might have been pardonable in any 
case, it surely would have been so in the case of the surgeon 
of the prison. That he did not retahate is proved by the 
fact that he made fiiends of his former foes, and still retains 
many pleasant memorials of gratitude from the very men 
who sought his hfe. An Iiish surgeon, who took his degree 
in Dublin, left with him a case of superior surgical instru- 
ments, as a testimonial of his kindness, humanity and 
skill, and more humble soldiers pressed upon him sim- 
ple mementoes of their gratitude for unmerited consid- 
eration. Having been familiarly associated vdth some of 
the surgeons who operated at this prison, the writer is not 
prepared to give credence to the monstrous stories of 
cruelty and oppression said to have been practiced upon 
the men who were crowded into it by the fortunes of war. 

To attempt to vindicate the reputation of the Libby 
Prison, would, however, be a useless undertaking. It would 
be like whispering to the deaf adder. 

Tr> connection with the Libby Prison and the doctor of 
whom we have spoken, it may be added that it was then an 
easy matter to procure " greenbacks " from the prisoners. 
They were wilhng to sell their money for Confederate cur- 
rency at par, or to enter into an exchange of currency. 
Being many of them only three months' men, and well sup- 
plied with blankets, they frequently sold them at prices 



158 * THE BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. 

mucli lower than those demanded in Eichmond. The doc- 
tor availed himself of this opportunity to procure blankets 
for the use of his servants. Having invested in a large 
number of excellent ones, he sent them to his home wliere 
his little children, pleased with the appearance of the large, 
warm coverings for the winter, spread them down in the 
nursery for carpets to play on ; but much to the dismay of 
the careful nurse, and to the disgust of the mother, they 
were found to be filled with the usual vermin of the camj). 
This experiment put a stop* to the doctor's speculation in 
Yankee blankets. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

THE BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN NORTHERN LETTER- WRITING. 

THE clouds of battle had scarcely been hfted from Eich- 
mond, when Stonewall Jackson, with his unconquerable 
little band, appeared in the vicinity of Gordonsville. On 
the 8th of August, at Cedar Mountain, near the boundary 
line between Madison and Culpepper counties, he again en- 
countered General Banks, the total rout of whose army was 
only prevented by timely reinforcements under General 
Pope. Pope himself was compelled, however reluctantly, 
to turn his back upon General Stonewall Jackson, and made 
a safe retreat for a time to the north ^nk of the Eappa- 
hannock, in a few days to have his movements again inter- 
cepted and his blustering silenced on the classic field of 
Manassas. 

It would be useless to recapitulate many of the acts of 
this campaign of General Poj^e. It can hardly be denied 
that it was a failure in everything which might have ad- 
vanced the success of the cause for which he fought, and 
that it was abundantly successful only in the lawless impress- 
ment of provisions, the demoralization of slaves, (hundreds 
of whom were induced to leave their homes and follow the 



THE BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. 159 

Federal army,) the cowardly maltreatment of unarmed men 
and heaped-up insults upon defenceless women. 

Leaving our army apprehending and intercepting the 
plans of the enemy, we will take a retrograde step, and no- 
tice the style of literature which flooded Richmond from the 
battle-fields. We are not a rehc-hunting people, and take 
but little pleasure in mementoes which awaken such painful 
memories. Very few of us treasured trinkets gathered up 
from the field or from the debris of the camp ; but amid the 
scenes of the hospital and the sterner duties which called 
into action our talents as sempstresses, nurses and caterers 
to the sick and wounded, we would sometimes amuse our- 
selves with the hterature captured in the knapsacks of our 
enemies. 

Some rare specimens in the province of letter-writing 
came under our notice. In them the rules of orthography 
were wholly ignored. Grammar and rhetoric were allowed 
neither part nor lot in the compositions, and the much- 
vaunted common school system of the North was by no 
means favorably recommended in the epistolary intercourse 
of the rank and file of the Federal army. Occasionally we 
were refreshed with something that was readable, — some- 
thing in which sentiments of purity, morality and religion 
were expressed ; but generally, fi'om awkward, ignorant, 
illy-adjusted compositions, we read only coarse, vulgar abuse 
of the South, in which the " rebels " were denounced as be- 
ing but httle better than fiends incarnate, and meriting only 
a death on the gaUows. 

In some of these letters from our Northern sisters, the 
rebel women came in for a large share of vituperation. An 
excessive fear was sometimes expressed lest the "brave 
boys" might lose their hearts with the fair women upon 
whom they frequently took peculiar dehght in making war. 
But v/hile these cases were not exceptional, they were not 
universal. Some of the most beautifully touching epistles, 
the emotions of pure and cultivated minds, were found in 
the knapsacks of the soldiers in the hostile army. When 



160 THE BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. 

we were fortunate enougli, in the immense heaps of trash, 
to find such gems,. though fidelity to the Union was the bur- 
den of their pohtics, we were not excited to indignation by 
unquahfied abuse of the South and ignorant denunciations 
of a people of whom they knew but httle. 

If we must judge of a nation by its literature, the North 
had a most unfortunate representation in the letters of the 
rank and file of its army. 

Touching mementoes of friends far away were frequently 
found in the knapsacks brought to us. A miniature, a lock 
of hair, a faded flower, a bow of ribbon, would whisper to 
our hearts a pleasant story. Sometimes, when our feelings 
were chilled, when our hearts were hardened and we were 
forced to consider those who oppressed us so heavily as 
scarcely possessed of human attributes, we were softened 
by these evidences of a better principle, and the thought 
would arise : " They are at least men, and must at one time 
have had hearts." 

"We hardly dare allude to the fact, that now and 
then we found that the morocco case contained the minia- 
ture of a woman in whose veins ran a darker stream than 
that which. tints the complexion of the Caucasian. At that 
time there were so few of the troops of the Corps d'Afrique 
that our most tenderly awakened sympathies, excited by the 
fair face of the friend of the Yankee soldier, would be over- 
come by disgust at the thought that any could carry with 
him the sable shadow, and this disgust wOiS intensified when, 
in more than one instance, beside the dark lady, was shad- 
owed forth the likeness of a soldier in the uniform of the 
Federal officer. Must an apology be made? These are 
delicate subjects, and we approach them charily, but our 
details would not be complete were we to pass them unno- 
ticed. All along our route there are shoals and quicksands, 
and we ought to be careful that we are not sunk in the one 
or stranded on the other. The sea upon which we sail is 
dangerous ; but with Truth for our pilot we have boldly 
thrust out our bark, and should not fear the consequences. 



INCIDENTS. 161 

CHAPTEE XXXI. 

THE PEOVOST MAHSHAL's OFFICE IN RICHMOND — INCIDENTS. 

AN unforeseen annoyance arose in the frequent disrup- 
tions which occurred between our Provost Marshal, 
General Winder, and the Examining Board of Surgeons, 
through whom the soldiers in a state of convalescence re- 
ceived furloughs. It was not .unfrequently the case, when a 
convalescent soldier succeeded in procuring from his sur- 
geon a certificate upon which to ground an application for a 
furlough, and when not in a condition to return to his regi- 
ment for service in the field, that he was kept in Richmond, 
confined to the hot, impure air of the city, because General 
Winder had quarrelled with the Board, and there was no au- 
thority delegated to examine into and decide upon his case. 
We can recall a great number of times when the poor suf- 
ferers were disappointed in this manner, but will mention 
only the cases of two young men, one of whom was fi'om 
Virginia, and the other a young IMississijopian, who after- 
wards signally distinguished himself for bravery. These 
young soldiers held certificates from their sjirgeon, of 
wounds that incapacitated them for military duty for a 
time, and entitled them to a furlough for sixty days. The 
Board had dissolved, they could get no examination, and 
there they were, sweltering in the heat of summer, breath- 
ing the impure air of the city, and wilting day by day, as a 
plant deprived of earth and moisture. They had sought all 
the aid, political, religious and military, that they could 
bring to bear upon their applications, to no effect. At last 
a lady friend, alive with sympathy for their condition, and 
worn out with their repeated disaj^pointments, said to them : 
" Give me your certificates ; I'll see that you shall have a 
furlough." 

"How will you manage it?" said private W , (later, 

General W . ) 

" I shall beard the lion in his den." 



162 INCIDENTS. 

" What do you mean ?" 

" Never mind ; will you give me your certificates ?" said 
the lady. 

*' Yes — it can do no harm ; but we have grown hopeless," 
they both exclaimed. 

The lady took the certificates, and seeking the compan- 
ionship of another lady and the escort of a friendly clergy- 
man, she at once visited the office of the Surgeon General, 
(Dr. Moore,) presented the claims of her adopted convales- 
cents, and laid the certificates before him for his adjudica- 
tion. Reading carefully the valuable documents, he indorsed 
the applications, sent them down to Adjutant General Coop- 
er for his approval, and the lady had the intense satisfaction 
to take them back to the disheartened soldiers, granting a 
furlough for sixty days, fi'om the highest medical authority 
under the government. Surprise took the place of grati- 
tude for a few moments in the hearts of the poor soldiers, 
but when they could find words to express themselves, they 
exclaimed : *' Well, one woman is worth five hundred men 
at any time," — "when furloughs are to be obtained," she 
added. Accepting the compliment only with her amend- 
ment, she allowed them to express their thanks. 

We may here remark, in reference to Surgeon General 
Moore, there were few men in authority under the Confede- 
rate government who had a more irreproachable record, 
though there were few more difficult to approach. Devoted 
in his attention to his pecuhar business, he was polite and 
courteous, though so remarkably sententious that his man- 
ner was mistaken for unfeeling indifference. A simple state- 
ment of business always received from him correct notice, 
though he never tolerated unnecessary preamble. The wise 
rules of business which we find in the house of almost 
every man of business, were those required by him of all 
who called upon him to transact business. 

The character of Dr. Moore can best be understood from 
the high esteem in which he was held by the clerks in his 
office. Scrupulously exacting of them the strictest perform- 



A woman's stratagem. 1(33 

ance of duty, it was so well regulated as to make it a pleas- 
m-e, whde the slightest neglect of duty, we are told^ was 
never permitted to pass unnoticed by him. 



CHAPTER XXXn. 

THE SECONB BATTLE OP BULL RCN.-A Woman's STBATAGEM 

"OUT little more than thirteen months had left their re- 
-L^ cords on the pages of history, and again on the fields of 
Manassas, where the enemy had received his first signal re 
pulse m his "On to Richmond," were the camp-fires hghtd 
From every hill-top they were blazing, and once moS we 
were des med to try the steel of the foemen. Not slt"- 
hed with the previous chastisement received on this bloody 
ground, they had persevered until at the gates of the prin- 
cipal stronghold of the rebels they had knocked loudl/and 
clamorously for admittance, to be repulsed yet more signaUy, 
and still undaunted by defeat they had taken up the pro^ 
gramme o the "On to Richmond," devised by the ,visdom 
of General Scott, and disappointed in by General McDowell 
to attempt an imi^rovement suggested by the light of expe- 
rience m the route. We were given but little time to talk 
about and reflect upon the glorious succession of victories 
which had driven the persevering invader from our very 
doors when the thunder and smoke, the din and confu.sion 
ot battle, again shook the hills of Virginia. It was not 
enough that at Bull Run, Manassas, and Ball's Bluff-at 

Seven Pmes and Fair Oaks-at MechanicsviUe, Gaines's MiU 
Coal Harbor, Peach Orchard, Savage's Station, Frayser's 
Farm and Malvern Hill, (around Richmond,) and at Cedar 
Mountain, as well as at other points on our soil, the bones 
o the enemy were piled in huge heaps, and that their shed 
blood and decaying bodies were enriching the hillsides-it 
was not enough that they had seen their armies melt away 



164 A woman's stratagem. 

before the furious fire of tlie rebels, like snow in the sun- 
shine — but once more, on the same plateaus where first they 
were dispersed like frightened sheep, they determined to 
make the bold attempt to wrest from the Confederates the 
victories won in a score of battles, and plant again the 
" stars and stripes " on the " rebel " Capitol. 

By referring to a history of this period, we read: "The 
results of General Lee's strategy were indicative of the re- 
sources of military genius. Day after day the enemy were 
beaten, until his disasters culminated on the plains of Ma- 
nassas. Day after day our men maintained their superiority 
to the enemy. The summer campaign had been conducted 
by a single army. The same toil-worn troops who had re- 
lieved from siege the city of Bichmond, had advanced to 
meet another invading army, reinforced not only by the 
defeated army of McClellan, but by the fi'esh corps of Burn- 
side and Hunter. The trials and marches of these troops 
are extraordinary in history. Transportation was inade- 
quate, the streams which they had to cross were swollen to 
unusual height, it was only by forced marches and repeated 
combats they could turn the position of the, enemy — and at 
last succeeding in this, and forming a junction of their col- 
umns in the face of greatly superior forces, they fought the 
decisive battle of the 30th of August — the crowning triumph 
of their toil and valor. 

"The route of the extraordinary marches of our troops 
presented for long and weary miles the touching pictures of 
the trials of war. Broken-down soldiers, (not all stragglers,) 
lined the road. At night time, they might be found asleep 
in every conceivable attitude of discomfort — on fence rails, 
and in fence corners — some half bent, others almost erect — 
in ditches, and on steep hill-sides, some without blanket or 
overcoat. Day-break found them drenched with dew, but 
strong in purpose; with half rations of bread Bnd meat, 
ragged and bare-footed, they go cheerfully forward. No 
nobler spectacle was ever presented in history. These 
beardless youths and gi-ay-haired men, who thus spent their 



A wokin's stratagem. 165 

nights like the beasts of the field, were the best men of the 
land, of all classes, trades and professions. The sjoectacle was 
such as to inspire the prayer that ascended from the sanctua- 
ries of the South, that God might reward the devotion of these 
men to principle and justice, by crowning their labors and 
sacrifices with that blessing which always bringeth peace." 

In connection with the battle of the Cross Keys, we are 
just here reminded of an amusing stratagem of a rebel lady 
to conceal her age and charms from the enemy, who held 
jDossession of her house. She says: "Mr. K., you know, 
was comjDclled to evacuate his premises when the Federals 
took possession, and succeeding in making good his escape, 
left me ihere, with my three little children, to encounter 
the consequences of their intrusion upon my premises. Not 
wishing to appear quite so youthful as I really am, and de- 
siring to destroy, if possible, any remains of my -former 
beauty, I took from my mouth the set of false teeth, (which 
I was compelled to have put in before I was twenty years 
old,) tied a handkerchief around my head, donned my most 
slovenly apparel, and in every way made myself as hideous 
as possible. The disguise was perfect. I was sullen, morose, 
sententious. You could not have believed I could so long 
have kept up a manner so disagreeable; but it had the 
desired effect. The Yankees called me " old woman." They 
httle thought I was not thirty years of age. They took 
my house for a hospital for their sick and wounded, and 
allowed me only the use of a single room, and required of 
me many acts of assistance in nursing their men, which 
under any other circumstances my own heart-promptings 
would have made a pleasure to me. But I did not feel dis- 
posed to be compelled to prepare food for those who had 
driven from me my husband, and afterwards robbed me of 
all my food and bed -furniture, with the exception of what 
they allowed me to have in my own room. But they were 
not insulting in their language to the " old woman," and I 
endui'ed all the inconveniences and unhappiness of my sit- 
uation with as much fortitude as I could bring into oper- 



16G THE CLOUDS LIFTED. 

ation, feeling tliat my dear husband, at least, was safe i 
harm. After they left," she continued, " I was forced t 
out into the woods, near by, and with my two little 1 
pick up fagots to cook the scanty food left to me." Tt 
the story of one of the most luxuriously reared wome 
Virginia, and is scarcely the faintest shadow of what n 
endured under similar circumstances. 



CHAPTEK XXXni. 

THE CLOUDS LIFTED. 



THE rapid changes of the fortunes of the Confedei 
and the contrast to the forlorn and hopeless situati( 
which we were placed so short a time before, dispelled 
gloom that had loomed over us in the briUiant prospec 
future success. 

The most sanguine hopes were entertained of a sp 
termination to our difficulties, and a prosj^erous peace, 
latter only to be desired with hberty. It seemed al 
within our grasp. Little more than three months 
passed since we had seen Richmond surrounded hy 
" Grand Army," our government quaking, and ready to 
up the capital, our people discouraged and frantically fl 
in all directions for safety, all classes demoralized, sav( 
trusty army — now, we had not only beheld the mighty 
of the enemy driven from its strong position, at our 
doors, but beaten back across the Potomac, and the cor 
of our enemies inviting to invasion from the conqu( 
armies of the "rebels." 

It seemed almost impossibly for us to realize the ch^ 
The clouds were breaking on all sides, they had been ] 
from Richmond, and an incubus so heavy that it had 
nigh crushed out the life of many of us, had been 1 
from our hearts; and when after making this review, 
the strangeness and securit}'' of our situation were 



THE CLOUDS LIFrED. 167 

understood, and the terrible dangers warded off by the valor, 
the courage, the invincible determination of our foot-sore, 
weary and ragged army, that had in so short a time 
v/rought such prodigies — our hearts went uj) in a universal 
"Great God, I thank thee! The Lord alone omnipotent 
reigneth !" 

The close of the summer found the soil of Virginia free 
from the hostile tread of the invader. With the news of 
the defeated armies of the enemy that threatened us on the 
north of Eichmond, there came to us at the same time, in- 
formation of the successes of General Loring in Western 
Virginia. Meeting and repulsing the enemy at Fayette 
Court House, driving him back to Cotton Hill, which he 
was also forced to abandon, and still further on, dislodg- 
ing him at Kanawha Falls, and capturing immense stores 
of provisions and ammunition, our victorious forces pushed 
on to Charleston, which they found in flames, and the in- 
habitants terror-stricken at the treatment received at the 
hands of the enemy. In a short time the beautiful Valley 
of the Kanawha was free from the incursions of the hostile 
troops, and his towns on the Ohio were threatened by our 
forces. 

In the recovery of the Valley of the Kanawha, we re- 
gained the possession of one of the richest and most valu- 
able sections of our state. With salt enough within its 
limits to furnish a supply for this whole continent, and 
which had previously sold for scarcely a farthing per 
pound, while we were at that time paying for it in Eich- 
mond the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per pound.* 

Very soon in Eichmond, and all parts of Virginia, these 
successes were made available in sux^plying the wants of 
the people, in an article so necessary to their sustenance 



* It was when tlie Kanawha Valley was in the possession of our ene • 
mies, that the speculator before referred to, who had on hand a large 
supply of this article, took advantage of the necessities of the people, 
and made his fortune. 



168 THE CLOUDS LIFTED. 

and comfort. We were no longer compelled to pay to tlie 
extortioners the exorbitant sum of one dollar and fifty cents 
per pound, but the state drew supplies of salt for the citi- 
zens, which was furnished to them at the rate of a pound per 
head per month, for each individual at five cents per pound. 
This was a vast improvement upon the price we had paid of 
late. 

As the opposing forces now stood, the South had just 
cause for congratulation, the North for mortification. More 
had been in a short time accomphshed by the South, than 
perhaps any people in the world had ever achieved. 
With a population of only eight millions, three millions of 
which were slaves, tampered with, and rendered disloyal 
and dissatisfied with their relation to the whites, at every 
point at which our enemies could get access to them and 
bring them under their control, we had for more than eigh- 
teen months successfully resisted a peoj^le of a population of 
twenty-three millions of residents, and with a teeming in- 
flux of emigrants daily landing on their shores, with which 
to recruit their exhausted ranks, without the necessity of 
drawing heavily upon the native population. The- North 
was well supj)lied with manufactories of all descriptions to 
furnish materials for carrying on a war, while her ports were 
open to all the world, and she, in turn, had access to every 
country on the globe, through her commercial intercourse, 
inviting to competition and assistance in all the arts per- 
taining to the improvement of implements of warfare : there 
was, therefore, nothing in the material for conquest that was 
not within her reach. 

The South, on the other hand, with only a few insig- 
nificant manufactories for arms and other implements 
necessary for warfare, shut out from all the world by a 
rigid blockade, through which only, with risk and danger, 
we could get any assistance from abroad, with our troops 
poorly armed, badly clad and still more badly fed, with no 
navy to compete with the thousands of vessels belonging to 
the North, which ploughed the trackless ocean, and brought 



RETURN OF THE CONFEDER.iTE CONGRESS. 169 

wealtli to our enemies, nnassisted by any power from 
abroad, replete alone with the high pur230se which nerved 
her to the contest, placed in the hands of her ragged troops 
arms of any and every description, and with these they had 
dared to oppose, and had successfully driven from our soil, 
the overwhelming hosts which vainly thought to crush us 
in the onset. 

Victory after victory perched on the Confederate banners, 
and imperishable laurels wreathed the brow of the South. 



CHAPTEE XXXrV. 

RETURN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONQRESS WOMEN AT WORK IN 

THE PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS. 

THE Confederate Congress, which had adjourned about 
the time that the gunboat panic took possession of so 
many of the people of Richmond, convened again in a 
" called session " in August. With unfeigned coiu'tesy we 
welcomed back this illustrious body; but they were sub- 
jected to the most unmerciful twittings for the fleetness of 
foot they had exhibited when Richmond was so alarmingly 
threatened. These unpleasant allusions were received with 
laughable grace, the best they could summon to aid them in 
apolog}^ for so frantically " skedaddling" (to use a Western 
slang term,) when General McClellan had his army planted 
around the Confederate Capital. 

To the pungent but not unamiable taunts that would 
sometimes assail these honorable gentlemen fi-om their fair 
friends in Richmond, they would reply in the golden aph- 
orism (which the ladies claimed to have been captured from 
themselves) " Discretion is the better part of valor," or 
rather, the ladies would reform, "Self-preservation is the 
first law of nature," with the added assurance that in case of 
S 



170 RETURN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 

another threatening demonstration, they would " keep guard " 
over the Congi-ess while sitting. 

That this illustrious body of Confederate legislators were 
not insensible to, nor unappreciative of the charms of the 
women of the capital, is proved by the fact that more than 
one was consoled in his lonely estate by having conferred on 
him the hand of a Richmond lady. 

The hearts of our grave senators and representatives were 
not invulnerable, and Cupid kept up a lively business in the 
" Rebel Capital." They were not armed with " coats of 
mail" against the charms of the ladies of Richmond, but 
alas ! the fair ones were driven to the mortifying conscious- 
ness of their defective magnetic powers, when a distant cloud 
of Federal dust betrayed the threatened approach of our 
incorrigible enemies. 

No better armed against Federal buUets than the arrows 
of the god of Love, they borrowed for their heels wings 
from Mercury, and practiced the admirable, but not very 
courageous precept that, 

* ' He who fights and runs away, 
May live to fight another day. " 

It is usual to depreciate our public men. It seems to be 
altogether forgotten that the universal suffrage advocated in 
our country, must ever engender a spirit of demagoguism in 
our politicians ; forbidding ^,he development of our best tal- 
ent, and putting into power those who will most readily 
yield to the outside pressure, and pander to the politics of 
the majority. Our Congress was accused of being distin- 
guished for its weakness, for its entire want of statesman- 
ship, kept in ro.ortal terror, it was said, by the autocratic 
rule of our chief magistrate, and acting with unpardonable 
timidity, when the most urgent necessity for promptness 
and energy was apparent. Upon these points we must leave 
the superior wisdom of the well-informed to decide; 
we do not feel prepared nor willing to sit in judgment on 
the actions of unfortunate politicians, whose reputations are 



RETTJKN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 171 

handled always unmercifully, tossed to and fro like feathers 
on the wind. 

We do know that there were many in the Confederate coun- 
cils who had made for themselves a worthy and an honor- 
able name, who had come down to us from the old United 
States Congress with an enviable prestige which was not 
lost by their trial in the Confederate Congress. In the del- 
egations from our own noble State, there were those well 
known in the history of our country, as beacon lights of 
superior mental lustre, to whom we might look in the dark- 
ness that enveloped us, and ask, " Watchman, what of the 
night r 

We know that in the legislative halls of the Confederate 
Capitol, there were men from all parts of the South whose 
patriotism had been tested by trials so conclusive, that we 
dare not raise against them the finger of reproach, and re- 
ject with scorn imputations that reflect dis^Daragingly upon 
them. With us was repeated the old story, burdened with 
complaints against our representatives, and never for a 
moment did we charge ourselves with the sHghtest portion 
of the grave responsibilities of their position. 

But in the Confederate Congress there was one character 
so unique, that it would be a matter of the merest impossi- 
bihty for any pen less gifted than that of Dickens to do full 
justice to it in all its phases. The most incomprehensible of 
all incomprehensibilities, the most nondescript of the non- 
descript was this honorable gentleman. 

Possessed of undoubted mental caj^abilities, we find him 
from the time of his advent into the Southern Congress, 
attacking at will any and every one connected with the 
government, from the President to the lowest official, war- 
ring upon every de^^artment alike, with a hardihood and 
effrontery as admirable as astonishing. Battling with the 
Commissary General, the Secretary of the Navy, the Army 
and the Treasury, hurling his thunderbolts, red hot with 
righteous indignation against men who abused and lived 
upon government emoluments, bullying the members of 



172 RETURN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 

Congi-ess, provoking quarrels with whomsoever he chose, dis- 
turbing the peace of that body by his noisy invectives he 

was unsparing in the manner as in the matter of his lan- 
guage, and often threw in the teeth of his Congressional 
contemporaries the most violent and bitter denunciations.- 
Possessed of no apparent amiability himself, he seemed al- 
together obUvious of the existence of such a quality in 
the breast of any other human being. He was consid- 
ered a "firebrand" in the old Congi^ess, and brought 
with him his ancient reputation into that of the Confed- 
eracy. 

He appeared to be a privileged member, and was al- 
lowed to rant on and fire here and there at will, only too 
happy for an opportunity for a grand explosion. At last, 
after nearly four years of such desultory warfare, we find 
him provoking a quarrel with a certain member of the 
House, of so irate a character that said member, (we re- 
gret to record,) followed him to the chamber of his 
wife, and could only be prevented from inflicting chas- 
tisement upon the gray-haired old offender by the stren- 
uous efforts of other members, and the screams of the 
frightened lady. But when he had seemingly "fired his 
last round," and from the obvious disapprobation of all 
parties, found "Othello's occupation gone," he came up 
" among the missing." In his attempted escape to Wash- 
ington, he was arrested by Confederate detectives at 
Fredericksburg and returned to the tender mercies of 
the outraged authorities of the Confederate govern- 
ment. 

By no means disconcerted at this contretemps, he boldly 
delivered himself of his reason for this unwonted infidel- 
ity to the government he had so industriously threatened 
and served. Tired of waiting for the dawn of a better 
day, and ever disposed towards peace (?) he had, seK- 
commissioned, determined to make his way to Washing- 
ton to negotiate for peace with the Federal government. 
Finding it impossible to subdue the indomitable spirit of 



EETURN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 173 

this incorrigible man, the Soutliern Confederacy was glad 
to let him depart in peace, with- the kindly injunction of 
Uncle Toby to the fly. 

But we are anticipating his hegira by more than two 
years. It was amusing to watch the shade of angry res- 
ignation that would steal over the faces of the members, and 
of vexation that would mantle the brows of visitors to the 
hall of the House of Eepresentatives, when, upon almost 
every bill introduced, they were condemned to listen to the 
ever ready tirade of invective that seemed always to pour 
from the Kps of this remarkable man. With a reputation 
for talent superior or equal to that of any man in that 
body, his speeches, which might have been spirited and in- 
teresting, were usually quarrelsome and disgusting. •' Take 
him all in all," he was a man without a parallel. 

His fault-findings, however, were not without cause. There 
was much to displease us in the operations of the govern- 
ment. Our financial interests were unfortunately managed. 
By the action of Congress, authorizing, time after time, an 
increase in the circulation of currency, upon a basis so 
insecure as our monetary system, the country was flooded 
with money, the public debt accumulated alarmingly, and 
the paper issued by the Confederate Treasury depreciated in 
a ratio almost unprecedented in the fiscal history of any 
period or nation. In the report of the President to the first 
permanent Congress, he represented our financial condition 
as one of safety — one for which we had just cause for con- 
gratulation; but twelve months had not elapsed when our 
paper currency was held at a discount of one thousand per 
cent., and it continued to increase in worthlessness, until, 
when the war terminated, its gold value was only a cent 
and a mill in the dollar. 

But these disagreements, however unfortunate for us as a 
nation, were providentially overruled for the benefit of many. 
In various offices under the government, and particularly 
in those of the Treasury Department, the ser^ices of females 
were found useful. Employment was given and a support 



174 RETURN OF TIIE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 

secured to hundreds of intelligent and deserving women of 
the South, who, by the existence of the war, or other mis- 
fortunes, had been so reduced in the means of living as to 
be compelled to earn a sujoport. The Treasury Note Bureau, 
in which the greatest number of women were employed, was 
under the supervision of experienced and gentlemanly clerks, 
and no place in the Confederate Capital was. more interest- 
ing or attractive than that where these fair operatives 
were engaged in signing and numbering Mr. Memminger's 
Confederate bills. The duties were pleasant and profita- 
ble, and so much sought after by those in need, that 
hundreds of applications were placed on file by women 
to whom it was impossible to furnish employment. 

It sometimes required considerable diplomacy and influ- 
ence to secure an office under our Government, and their fair 
friends made ample use of the members of Congress, the 
clergy and the military, for reference as to social position, 
qualification, worth, and need for such assistance. 

A visit to Mr. Memminger, whose stolid and apparently 
unsympathizing face ever produced an unpleasant impres- 
sion on the beholder, was sometimes undertaken by a wo- 
man more courageous than her sisters, to be attended with 
nervous apprehension when in his sight, and often by weep- 
ing when the ordeal was over. Few could endure the cold 
phase : " If I find your case more worthy of notice than others 
I will regard your application favorably," when their hearts 
were aching under trials so bitter that their drink was 
mingled with weeping, and their nights restless with the 
agony of the thought, " How am I to live ?" But notwith- 
standing the cold exterior of Mr. Memminger, he was not 
wanting in that warmth of soul that opens with sympathy 
for misfortune ; but it became extremely difficult for him 
to discriminate between the applicants, when they were 
so numerous, and their claims to notice so well substan- 
tiated. 

From the Treasury Department, the employment of female 
clerks extended to various offices in the War Department, 



RETURN or THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 175. 

the Post Office Department, and indeed to every branch, of 
business connected with the government. They were in all 
found efficient and useful. By this means many young men 
could be sent into the ranks, and by the testimony of the 
chiefs of Bureaus, the work left for the women was better 
done ; for they were more conscientious in their atten- 
dance uj)on their duties than the more self-satisfied, but 
not better qualified, male attaches of the government offices. 

For offices in the War Department, an examination of 
qualification for business was required. This, in itself, was 
extremely simple, but sufficiently formidable to deter many 
■from seeking employment that required such a test of effi- 
ciency. The applicants were expected to show a thorough 
acquaintance with the primary rules of arithmetic, and some 
knowledge of fractions; but under the circumstances in 
which many timid ladies w^ere examined they could scarcely 
tell whether or not two and two make four, or how many 
thirds there are in a whole. These examinations, therefore, 
could not be considered a test of qualification, for there 
were some so much frightened by the trial that, losing all 
self-j)ossession, they gave up in despair. The experiment of 
placing women in government clerkships proved eminently 
successful, and grew to be extremely popular under the Con- 
federate government. 

Many a poor young girl remembers with gratitude the 
kindly encouragement of our Adjutant General Cooper, our 
Chief of Ordnance, Colonel Gorges, or the First Auditor of 
the Confederate Treasury, Judge Boiling Baker, or Postmas- 
ter General Eeagan, and various other officials, of whom 
their necessities drove them to seek employment. The most 
high-born ladies of the land filled these places as well as the 
humble poor; but none could obtain employment under the 
governmeiit who could not furnish testimonials of intelli- 
gence and superior moral worth. 

When our Congress reassembled in August, very differ- 
ently did our own political skies appear from what they did 
when it adjourned in the sjDring previous. They were now 



176 EETUEN OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 

spanned by the rainbow-tinted arch of future prosperity. 
The heavy clouds of war seemed to be breaking up on all 
sides. The radiant image of Peace, obscured from our 
vision by only trifling impediments, was ready once more 
to shed her beams of brightness over our beautiful South- 
ern land. 

But we could not rely fully on appearances, which (as the 
result has proven) might be only illusory. We could not 
relax our diligence, we could not give up to voluptuous ease 
and idle enjoyment, so long as we had fathers, brothers, 
husbands and fiiends yet in the field, bearing the heavy 
musket and knapsack, and sleeping on the bare earth, and 
exposed to the rains and dews of night, living on coarse, 
hard fare, and subjected to the thousand discomforts of the 
soldier's life During its session in the spring. Congress 
had passed a bill for increasing the size of the army by con- 
scrij^tion. It was now considering what classes might be 
exemj^t from military duty by the requirements of the law. 

Our army had hitherto been almost wholly filled up by 
volunteers, who had rushed in at the very commencement 
of the war. It could not be sustained by volunteer troops. 
Other expedients were required to fill up the ranks depleted 
by death or mutilation. To avoid mihtary duty, many 
whose insatiate thirst for wealth overruled all instincts of 
patriotism, were satisfied to avoid the conscription by the 
purchase of substitutes to do their fighting for them, and 
others laid to their souls the flattering unction of duty per- 
formed, and stilled perhaps the whisperings of conscience, 
while they pursued the busy rounds of trade, and grew rich 
upon the necessities of their fellow men. There are some 
of us who can recall the beautiful tribute paid to Virginia 
by Walter Preston, in his famous speech in Congress 
on the Exemption Bill. It breathed all the spirit of 
patriotism, yet plainly indicated the difflculties that still 
hedged our way, and to be found mainly in the spirit and 
temper of our own people. We had afterwards reason to 
regret that the exceptions to the classes of exempts vv^ere 



FIDELITY OF THE NEGROES. 177 

not more numerous, or that our men, many of them, could 
not see more glory in honorable warfare than in the dangers 
and excitements of blockade-running to Baltimore, though 
in the dangers and excitements of the field they could not 
so readily and successfully line their pockets with riches. 

Our railroads were now all in working order, patched up 
of such materials as we had on hand, but the suppHes of 
provisions came over them in abundance, and there was no 
lack of edibles in Eichmond, except in groceries and such 
articles as were received by foreign importation. A gi'eat 
change had become visible since the spring, when we suf- 
fered from the tariff placed on certain articles of home pro- 
duction, by our Provost Marshal, General "Winder, when 
we scarce knew from day to day how we should provide for 
the wants of the morrow; and our situation was greatly bet- 
ter than when our railroads were all cut on the north of 
Richmond, and supplies could not be forwarded to the city. 
Although the prices were inflated until they were mar- 
vellously high, there was no lack of money for the purchase 
of creature comforts, and we failed not to give God sincere 
thanks for the wonderful deliverance wrought in a few 
short, but terrible months. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

FIDELITY OF THE NEGKOES. 



THERE is an inherent pride in personal responsibility, 
and this wa^ fully exemplified in the test of the negro 
during the war. It was a matter of infinite gratification 
with him to take care of his mistress and the little ones, 
while his master was absent in the field. The duties of 
rearing and of training the children of a Southern family 
were always proudly shared by the domestics known as 
*'house servants." In almost every Southern household there 
was the "mammy," the "daddy," and aunties and uncles 



178 FIDELITY OF THE NEGROES. 

of tlie senior servants, who received these appellations from 
tlie affection and respect in which they were held by the 
members of the white family to which they were attached. 

We might cite numerous instances of the fidelity of ne- 
groes that came under our notice, but will only refer to one, 
illustrating the deep attachment of which the negro is ca- 
pable, and the just sense of responsibihty which takes hold 
of his mind. 

/ A young soldier from Georgia brought with him to the 
war in Virginia a young man who had been brought up 
with him on his father's plantation. On leaving his home 
with his regiment, the mother of the young soldier said to 
his negro slave : " Now, Tom, I commit your master Jem- 
my into your keeping. Don't let him suffer for anything 
with which you can supply him. If he is sick, nurse him 
well, my boy ; and if he dies, bring his body home to me ; 
if wounded, take care of him ; and oh ! if he is killed in 
battle, don't let him be buried on the field, but secure his 
body for me, and bring him home to be buried!" The ne- 
gro faithfully jpromised his mistress that all of her wishes 
should be attended to, and came on to the seat of war 
charged with the grave responsibility placed upon him. 

In one of the battles around Eichmond the negro saw his 
young master when he entered the fi^ht, and saw him when 
he fell, but no more of him. The battle became fierce, the 
dust and smoke so dense that the company to which he was 
attached, wholly enveloped in the cloud, was hidden from 
the sight of the negro, and it was not until the battle was 
over that Tom could seek for his young master. He found 
him in a heap of the slain. Kemoving the mangled remains, 
torn frightfully by a piece of shell, he conveyed them to 
an empty house, where he laid them out in the most depent 
order he could, and securing the few valuables found on his 
person, he sought a conveyance to carry the body to Rich- 
mond. Ambulances were in too great requisition for those 
whose lives were not extinct to permit the body of a dead 
man to be conveyed in one of them. He pleaded most pit- 



FIDELITY OF THE NEGROES. 179 

eouslj for a place to bring in the body of his young master. 
It was useless, and he was repulsed ; but finding some one 
to guard the dead, he hastened into the city and hired a 
cart and driver to go out with him to bring in the body to 
Richmond. 

When he arrived again at the place where he had left it, 
he was urged to let it be buried on the field, and was told 
that he would not be allowed to take it from Richmond, and 
therefore it were better to be buried there. " I can't do it,'* 
replied the -faithful negro ; " I can't do it ; I promised my 
mistress (his mother) to bring this body home to her if he 
got killed, and I'll go home with it or I'll die by it ; I can't 
leave my master Jemmy here." The boy was allowed to have 
the body and brought it into Richmond, where he was 
furnished with a coffin, and the circumstances being made 
known, the faithful slave, in the care of a wounded officer 
who went South, was permitted to carry the remains of his 
master to his distant home in Georgia. The heart of the 
mother was comforted in the possession of the precious 
body of her child, and in giving it a burial in the church- 
yard near his own loved home. 

Fee or reward for this noble act of fidelity would have 
been an insult to the better feelings of this poor slave ; 
but when he delivered up the watch and other things taken 
from the person of his young master, the mistress returned 
him the watch, and said : " Take this watch, Tom, and 
keep it for the sake of my dear boy ; 'tis but a poor reward 
for such services as you have rendered him and his mother." 
The poor woman, quite overcome, could only add : " God 
will bless you, boy !" '-^ 

To allude to an institution which is without the prosj)ect 
of or a wish for its resurrection, would be like opening the 
grave and exhibiting the festering remains of our former 
social system ; but we cannot forbear extracting from an 
evil — and only evil morally, not necessarily involving sin — • 
many a beautiful lesson from the relation in which it was 
held by us. Our slaves were most generally the repositariea 



180 lee's invasion of Maryland. 

of our family secrets. They were our confidants in all 
our trials. They joyed with us and they sorrowed with 
us ; they wept when we wept, and. they laughed when 
we laughed. Often our best friends, they were rarely our 
worst enemies. Simple and childklike in their affections^ 
they were more trustworthy in their attachments than thos e 
better versed in wisdom. For good or evil, in his present 
altered condition the negro has the warmest sympathies of 
his former master, and ever in him will find a " friend in 
need," who will readily extend to him the hand of kindness 
and generous affection. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

lee's invasion of MABYLAND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 

BY this time the theatre of active military operations 
had been changed. General Pope, with all his boasted 
skill and bravery, although assisted by McClellan, Burnside 
and Hunter, had been powerless to prevent the onward pro- 
gress of the rebels. General McClellan had resumed chief 
command of the Federal army. 

Leaving Aiiingion Heights to the right, General Lee 
crossed the Potomac into Maryland. Having in view the 
seizure of Harper's F^rry, and designing to test the sjiirit 
of the Marylanders, he also threatened Hagerstown, throw- 
ing Governor Curtin into the wildest alarm, and animating 
Baltimore with the hope of emancipation from the thraldom 
under which she restively groaned. To accomplish his pur- 
poses he began a series of brilliant manoeuvres, directed 
mainly towards Virginia, and finally culminating in the 
battle of Boonesboro' Gap. There the Confederate forces en- 
gaged overwhelming odds, but, stubbornly contesting the 
ground, for a vfhile they gave way under mighty pressure, 
until the timely arrival of reinforcements under General 
Longstreet gave them renewed strength. They refused to re- 



lee's invasion of MARYLAND. 181 

treat, and the day was decided by their gaining nothing, 
though, comparatively, they lost nothing. 

From this engagement Virginia counted another illustri- 
ous son among the dead. General Garland, a young man 
of the brightest promise, while endeavoring to rally his men 
under a galling fire from the enemy, was pierced by a 
musket ball in the breast, and died upon the field. 

While the action of Boonesboro' was in progress, and the 
enemy attempting to force his way through the main pass 
on the Frederick and Hagerstown road, the capture of Har- 
per's Ferry was accomplished by the army corps of General 
Jackson. This occurred on the 14th of September. ' It 
seemed only necessary for the genius of Jackson to have 
part in the combinations of the Confederate programme for 
success to follow. A writer of the time says : " The extent 
of the conquest is determined by the fact that we took elev- 
en thousand troops, an equal number of small arms, sev- 
enty-three pieces of artillery, and about two hundred 
wagons. The force of the enemy which surrendered con- 
sisted of twelve regiments of infantry, three companies of 
cavalry, and six companies of artillery. The scene of the 
surrender was one of deep humiliation to the North. It 
was indeed a repetition of the revolutionary glories of York- 
town, to see here the proud, gaily-dressed soldiers of the 
oppressor drawn up in line, stacking their arms, and surren- 
dering to the ragged, barefoot, half-starved soldiers of lib- 
erty." 

On the 17th of September General Lee had retired to 
unite his forces, as far as possible, to confi'ont the still ad- 
vancing legions of the enemy, and then occurred the engage- 
ment at Sharpsburg, or Antietam. Here, with an acknowl- 
edged force of only about forty thousand men, when the 
battle commenced, he encountered McClellan with an army 
of not less than one hundred and fifty thousand men, one 
hundred thousand of whom were trained soldiers, disci- 
plined in camp and field from the beginning of the war. 
The battle was a furious one. Many times the Confederates 



182 lee's invasion on maeyland. 

were driven bacli by the pressing numbers tbat seemed likely 
to overwhelm them, but encouraged by the daring example 
of their officers, they wholly performed their duty. A Fed- 
eral officer writes : " It is beyond all wonder how such men 
as the rebel troops can fight as they do. That those ragged 
wretches, sick, hungry, and in all ways miserable, should 
prove such heroes in fight, is past explanation. Men never 
fought better. There was one regiment that stood up be- 
fore the fire of one of our long range batteries and of two 
regiments of infantry, and though the air around them was 
vocal with the whistle of bullets and the scream of shells, 
there they stood, and delivered their fire in perfect 
order." 

Were we disposed to answer the questions involved in 
this generous remark of the Federal officer, we might say, 
the courage which nerved these " ragged, hungry wretches " 
was found in the cause for which lihey fought. When " Lib- 
ei-ty " is the watchword, therein is an element that strength- 
ens the arm, that emboldens the spirit, that makes the 
hero ! 

" 'Tis conscience that makes cowards of us all," and the 
Southern soldier — the Eebel, as he was proud to be termed — 
in his struggle for the birthright inherited fi'om his fore- 
fathers, who too had rebelled and perilled their lives for the 
cause of freedom, was troubled with no reproaches in the 
defence of his "life, his fortune and his sacred honor." It 
is bvit a poor compliment now to tell us that our noble men 
fought with a degree of devotion worthy of a better cause, 
when it was alone the overwhelming resources of our enemies 
that compelled them to yield up a cause dearer to them than 
Hfe. Let our enemies say what they will of us, but let the 
name of Liberty be sacred from the profanation of unholy 
lips. 

The day closed in a drawn battle — General Jackson on 
the same ground held by the Confederates in the morning, 
and General Burnside clinging closely to the bridge that 
spanned the Antietam River, afraid to give up the position, 



lee's invasion of makyland. . 183 

for on it hung the issue of the day. The victory to the 
Confederates was lost by the want of reinforcements to en- 
able us to get possession of the bridge, but other por- 
tions of the field were theirs. The loss was immense, and 
not gTeater than that of the enemy. But added to other 
losses, we mourned the sad fate of two of our officers, who 
had distinguished themselves for great bravery. To the 
moui-ning chaplet of the South was added a leaf for Briga- 
dier General Starke, of Louisiana, and one for Brigadier 
General Branch, of North Carolina, and with them we wept 
for many brave and gallant officers of inferior rank, and 
thousands of not less noble if less distinguished spirits 
from the common soldiery. 

The enemy claimed the victory, but abundant evidence of 
its doubtfulness is found in the fact that they failed to follow 
up the attack on the broken lines of the Confederates, and 
permitted General Lee to recross the Potomac on the fol- 
lowing day without an attempt at molestation or hindrance, 
and to secure a position on the opposite side at Shepherds- 
town. He then made a feint to follow him up by advancing 
a portion of his troops across the river, in which they were 
signally repulsed by General A. P. Hill, and pushed into the 
stream, which was perfectly blockaded by wounded and 
drowning men in an attempt to escape. It is also certain 
that this pretence of victory cost McClellan his command. 
Charges preferred against him were sustained by the official 
testimony of the Federal Commander-in-Chief, General Hal- 
leck, and resulted in the displacement of General McClellan 
and the elevation of General Ambrose E. Burnside of Rhode 
Island, who was also destined to feel the steel of the Rebel 
Lee. 

That it was the intention of General Lee, in crossing the 
Potomac, to hold and occupy Maryland, is proved by his 
proclamation, issued at Frederick, offering protection to all 
Marylauders who might come into his Hues ; and that he 
was induced to return into Virginia, not by the stress of de- 
feat in any single battle, but by force of circumstances, to 



184: lee's invasion of Maryland. 

wliicli, in tlie Soutliern heart it is painful to refer, making 
the campaign in Maryland on the whole a failure, we are 
also compelled to admit. 

But though in the main unsuccessful, it was not barren of 
usefulness to our cause. At the same time his intention of 
a mere predatory incursion into the territory of the enemy, 
as accredited to him by some who would fain defame a 
spotless name, could not have entered into designs which 
involved interests greatly superior to the dash and chiv- 
alry of a raid. Though these virtuous designs failed of per- 
fect accomplishment, yet our army gave further illustration 
of their valor, and the reverse to their arms at Harper's 
Ferry, without a parallel in the history of the war, had in- 
flicted on the enemy a loss in men and material far greater 
than our own losses, and in retreating into Virginia left to 
them neither provisions nor spoils, as evidences of the sue • 
cesses claimed. 

The New York Tribune declares, in reference to the bar- 
ren results claimed by the Federals from this campaign; 
" He leaves us the debris of his late camp, two disabled pieces 
of artillery, a few hundred stragglers, perhaps two thou- 
sand of his wounded, and as many more of his unburied 
dead. Not a sound field-piece, caisson, ambulance or wa- 
gon, not a tent, box of stores, or a pound of ammunition. 
He takes with him the supplies gathered in Maryland, and 
the rich spoils of Har]3er's Ferry." 

The Tribune is honest, and further states that his defeat, 
if defeat it may be considered, is mainly attributable to the 
failure of the Marylanders to sustain the Confederate cause 
as they promised, and in inducements held out by them, and 
that General Lee's retreat across the Potomac v^^as a master- 
piece of strategy. 

We had long been accustomed to listening to the cry from 
oppressed Maryland, from dow^i-trodden Baltimore, " Come 
over and help us !" To Virginia their hands were out- 
stretched, and imploringly they besought release from their 
Federal shackles. Maryland had charged upon Virginia's 



lee's inyasion of maeyland. 185 

tardiness in the commencement of the war her own miser- 
able condition. Our hearts bled, and remorse seized upon 
our souls when this reproach greeted us in Richmond. 
" Look at my own dear oppressed State ! Give her but half 
a chance, and you will learn where will be the heart of Mary- 
land in this struggle." They were ready to stake their hves 
on the action of Maryland. 

" Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll, 

Maryland ! my Maryland ! 
Thou wUt not crook to his control,. 

Maryland! my Maryland! 
Better the fire around thee roll, 
Better the shot, the blade, the bowl. 
Than crucifixion of the soul — 

Maryland ! my Maryland !" 

This refrain was caught up on all lips ; the sentiment 
found echo in all hearts; and we felt hke sending up loud 
"Hosannahs!" when there came a time to enfranchise the 
spirit of our beloved and commiserated sister. We rejoiced 
to know that crushed Maryland could throw off her iron 
fetters, and array herself under the star-crossed banner of 
her hope for redemption. 

The disappointment when, in response to the proclama- 
tion of our Commander-in-Chief, a few hundred stragglers 
came timidly into our Hues, was too keenly felt in Rich- 
mond to avoid expression in rough language, much as 
was dej)recated the wounding of the feelings of the sensi- 
tive. There was a sensible revulsion of sympathetic feel- 
ing for Maryland in Virginia, and for a time the blatant boasts 
of some, unnaturally excited and offensive, were silenced. 
Yet scarcely with sufficient cause did Mr. Vest, of Missouri, 
piqued, doubtless, in his personal experience, deliver him- 
self of a sjieech in the Confederate Congress, in which he 
unmercifully contrasted the actions of the Marylanders 
with those of Missourians in the South, to the reproach of 
the former. "When a bill passed Congress including strag- 
gling Marylanders in the conscription, the beautiful and pa- 



y 



186 lee's invasion of Maryland. 

riotic words of " My Maryland," were most amusingly tra- 
vestied: 

** Conscribers' heels are at thy door, 

Maryland ! my Maryland ! 
So oif to Baltimore we'll go, 

Maryland ! my Maryland ! 
We can't stay here to meet the foe, 
We might get shot and killed, you know; 
But when we're safe we'll brag and blow, 

Maryland ! my Maryland ! " 

There is now no possibility of mistaking the throbbing 
of the gTeat heart of Maryland. It was with us if not of 
us, and its sympathy with our destitution and misery has 
sublimely shown the throes it endured in the agony of sepa- 
ration. An apology for the failure of the people to join the 
standard of General Lee, to which they had been invited, 
and through which they had been assured protection, may 
be readily given in the explanation that he occupied a 
section of the State known to contain among its population 
the most violent Union men of Maryland — a population far 
from representing the popular feeling of the State — and 
that a meeting in Baltimore, though only forty-five miles 
from the Confederate lines at Frederick, could have been 
easily suppressed, as the city lay under the immediate 
shadow of two immense fortresses, the guns of which, in a 
few hours' time, could reduce it to destruction. Strongly 
guarded as it was by Federal pickets, it was no eas}^ matter 
for the men of Baltimore to effect an escape to the Confed- 
erate army. 

However, this was not at the time so understood generally 
at the South. In reference to it a writer says, " It is true, 
the South could not have expected a welcome in these 
counties, (the counties occupied by General Lee,) nor a 
desperate mutiny for the Confederacy in Baltimore, but it 
was expected that Southern sympathizers in other jDn^rts of 
the State, who so glibly ran the blockade on adventures of 
trade, might as readily work their way to the Confederate 



lee's invasion of IIAIIYIAND. 187 

army as to the Confederate markets, and it was not ex- 
pected that the few recruits who timidly advanced to our 
hnes, would have been so easily dismayed by the rags of our 
soldiers, and by the prospects of a service that promised 
equal measures of hardship and glory." 

In the bitterness of defeat and humiliation, asceticism 
and unamiability must be excused, and an appreciation of 
the same writer conceived, when he continues: " The army 
which rested again in Virginia had made a history that will 
flash down the tide of time a lustre of glory. It had done 
an amount of marching and fighting that appears almost 
incredible, even to those minds familiar with the records of 
great military exertions. Leaving the banks of the James 
river, it proceeded directly to the lines of the Rappahan- 
nock, and moving out fi'om that river, it fought its way to 
the Potomac, crossed that stream, and moved on to Freder- 
icktown and Hagerstown, had a heavy engagement at the 
mountain gaps below, fought the gi-eatest pitched battle of 
the war at Sharpsburg, and then recrossed the Potomac 
again into Virginia. 

" During all this time, covering the full space of a month, 
the troops rested but four days. Of the men who performed 
these wonders, one-fifth of them were barefoot, one-half of 
them in rags, and the whole of them half famished." 

Remembering that Richmond was indeed the Confed- 
erate barometer, as well as the heart and brain of our 
young, aspiring nation, we must struggle to confine our- 
selves as closely as possible to the city and its surroundings, 
yet shall be compelled occasionally to wander into other 
portions of the Confederacy in order to ascertain the reflex 
influence on the Capital. 

At this time there was a lull in the war in Virginia. By 
appointment of our Executive, the 18th of September had 
been set apart for special thanksgiving to Almighty God for 
the merciful dehverance from our enemies, and for the suc- 
cess that had crowned our arms. The occasion was uni- 
versally observed; and just here it is proper to remark that, 



188 SCENES IN KICHMOND. 

amid all tlie striking vicissitudes of the late war, the Chris- 
tian integrity of the masses of the Southern people changed 
only to add a brighter and brighter lustre to the rehgion 
of Christ. The most remarkable devotion characterized 
the people, and prayers and thanksgivings were uttered in 
spirit as well as in name. 

On the 19th General Lee recrossed the Potomac, and his 
army rested once more on the soil of Virginia. For some 
time there was quiet along the lines, undisturbed except by 
the dashing movements of General Stuart and his cavalry. 
By these Httle seems to have been intended, unless to show 
with what ease incursions could be made into Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, and the admirable good-breeding of the 
Southern chivalry, in contrast to the universal indignities 
heaped upon the innocent and helpless in the predatory incur- 
sions of our enemies. The treatment of the women of the 
South by certain of the Federal soldiery will present a black 
page in the records of the boasted civilization of this age 
and country. 

From Kentucky the intelligence was truly depressing. It 
was difficult for us to understand how she could submit to 
her forced and unnatural position of "armed neutrality." 
"We were exasperated at the lawless violence that reigned in 
Missouri, and discouraged at the prospect in Mississippi, yet 
upon our hopes there could have been placed no extinguisher 
as long as the sunlight of prosperity irradiated the prospect 
of peace and independence in Virginia. 



A 



CHAPTER XXXVn. 

SCENES IN KICHMOND IN THE WINTEE OF 1862-3. 

S the war went on, a marked change was made in the 
educational interests of the South. For a certain 



SCENES IN EICHMOND. 189 

number of pupils, the teachers of scliools were exempt 
from military duty. To their credit be it recorded that few, 
comparatively, availed themselves of this exception, and the 
care of instructing the youth devolved, with other added re- 
sponsibilities, upon the women of the country. Only boys un- 
der the conscript age were found in the schools; all older were 
made necessary in the field or in some department of govern- 
ment service, unless physical inabihty prevented them from 
falling under the requirements of the law. Many of our 
colleges for males suspended operation, and at the most im- 
portant period in the course of their education our youths 
were instructed in the sterner lessons of military service. 

Female schools were supported as best they could be 
where there was a lamentable scarcity of books, and where 
the expenses of education were so great that only the most 
wealthy could afford to give their daughters the advantages 
of a liberal course. Such were the difficulties that hedged 
the way to mental cultivation, that it seemed, in many in- 
stances, almost a matter of impossibility to pursue any reg- 
ular plan of education for girls. 

The operations of the Eichmond Female College were sus- 
pended, or rather, the building was given up for hospital 
purposes, and the excellent institution of Mr. LeFebvre was 
entirely broken up; but the Southern Female Institute, a 
first-grade seminary, under the supervision of ^Ir. Lee Pow- 
ell, the fine school of IMiss Pegram, St. Joseph's Academy, 
and other institutions under the patronage of the Catholic 
Church, were sustained. Though the encouragement to 
these schools was thoroughly hberal, so heavy were the ex- 
penses that it was almost impossible to keep them in suc- 
cessful operation. 

There was also a sad want of school-books. The stock on 
hand when the war commenced soon became exhausted, 
and there were no new ones to supply the consequent de- 
mand. Very few came to us through the blockade. Books 
were the last consideration in that eccentric trade. Incon- 
veniences arose at every step to impede the progress of 



190 SCENES IN RICHMOND. 

education in the Confederacy. Scliool-books which- had 
long before been cast aside as obsolete, and banished from 
the shelves of the Hbrary, and hidden away to motdder in 
dark closets, were brought to light, and placed in the hands 
of children, from which to add to the stock of ideas, in the 
process of youthful development. 

There was no time for authorship or compilation, and 
publication was conducted under such serious 4isadvan- 
tages, and at such enormous cost, that it grew to be almost 
impossible. 

There was a pitiable scarcity of paper. Our newspapers 
presented as singular a variety in appearance and size as 
in the character of the sheets. Some afforded a double, 
some a single sheet, and the most important of the dailies 
were issued on a half-sheet of coarse paper, and sometimes 
on a poor quality of brown paper. Our epistolary corres- 
pondence was carried on upon such paper as before the war 
we should have considered indifferent for wi'apping pur- 
poses. Not unfrequently letters were replied to in the same 
envelope in which we had inclosed our missive, but care- 
fully unsealed, turned, and the superscription addressed on 
the inside. 

But our philosophical men were as well satisfied to pen 
the glowing inspirations of patriotism on their Confederate 
paper, as they would have been to have inscribed them on 
the best vellum-post: and the Southern maiden was as well 
content to pen a billet-doux to her soldier lover on the 
coarse, rough sheet, that blotted at almost every touch of 
the pen, and to inclose the precious document in the rude 
Confederate envelope of turned wall paper, as if she had 
written her love on the softest, tiniest sheet of French note, 
and the seal to the enameled envelope had been a silver 
dove, bearing in its beak a scroll, on which was lettered a 
line of melting French or Latin. We gloried in our na- 
tional simplicity, and looked to a peaceful release from the 
inconveniences of the moment. 

Amusements were almost entirely abandoned. Our only 



SCENES IN EICHMOND. 191 

theatre had been destroyed by fire; and the exhibitions at 
the Varieties and the heterogeneous shows and performances 
at the Metropolitan Hall, failed to attract the better class of 
the Eichmond pubhc. Our women, who during the day, 
watched beside the couch, and made up clothes for the sol- 
diers, would often at night, get up concerts for their bene- 
fit. Little children added their mite to the soldiers' fund, 
by hoarding up their trifling sums, originating fairs, and 
selling refi-eshments. Such were some of the means of vir- 
tuous endeaYor. 

But while these brilliant examples of the spirit of true 
patriotism were noticeable in our city, there were some, and 
I regret to record, not a few, who made use of this time of ur- 
gent necessity, to amass riches, which could only be accom- 
plished at the expense of all the nobler principles that should 
have actuated a people. That no man could make money fair- 
ly and honestly, under the painful circumstances in which we 
were placed, is a fact too well understood to need much 
argument to substantiate. A disting-uished officer in the 
Confederate Army, who had served in an honorable capac- 
ity in the war with Mexico, said, " I should think there 
are very few men who will be willing, after this war, to 
acknowledge that they served the Confederacy as a commis- 
sary or quarter-master." Such constant use was made of 
the funds of the government in outside sjDeculations, by 
those connected with the commissary and quartermaster's 
departments of the army, that the wealth acquired in that 
way, or the sudden riches of those men, ever excited sus- 
picions of foul play. 

The same officer — a lawyer of fine ability — remarked: "It 
would be weU when the war is over, for the assessment of 
the taxes on the property of persons then and before the 
commencement of the war, to be compared, and all above a 
legitimate gain to his means, under all the circumstances by 
which we are surrounded, should be confiscated to the use 
of the soldier, who loses by the neglect of his business, while 
at work for his country. No man can honestly and con- 



192 SCENES IN EICHMOND. 

scientiously amass wealth at this time." And yet there were 
those who were before poor, now purchasing fine estates, 
driving fine horses, rolling in the finest coaches they could 
procure, and faring as sumptuously as our market would 
allow, while others were growing poorer and poorer, re- 
trenching in expenditures, doing all they could, and giving 
all they had to spare for the support of the cause in which 
the interests of the South were so fully involved. 

"When the autumn came on, the store-houses which had 
been occujoied for hospitals throughout the summer, were 
cleared of their patients, and cleared up for other uses, 
and although we groaned under the blockade that hind- 
ered the importation of goods into our country, these 
buildings were all more or less filled with articles run in on 
the under-ground route, and frequently overland, under the 
pretext of bringing in medicines, wines, etc., for the use of 
the Confederate Government. On almost every square in 
the business portion of Main Street, there was an auction- 
house, and we could seldom walk down that street without 
seeing numerous red flags of the auctioneer, or passing 
a motley crowd of Jews and Gentiles eagerly desirous to 
purchase their stock for the retail trade. Stopping a mo- 
ment, we could hear the stentorian voice of the seller, as he 
cried, " This beautiful article (perhaps a flimsy piece of cot- 
ton domestic, or a five cent calico) going at such a price. 

Shameful! going at such a sacrifice, only dollars -per 

yard. It is, I assure you, gentlemen, an outrage upon my 
better judgment to be compelled to sell it upon such terms ! 
"Will no one give more ? — I say will no one make a better 
bid on this valuable article ? — going ! — once ! — twice ! — 
three — times!" and down would come the gavel of the 
auctioneer, and the gratified purchaser would be cogitating 
the immense percentage he should reahze in the retail. It 
was said not unfrequently to have been the case, that the 
wholesale merchants of these stocks of blockade goods, had 
their " hy-hidder>'" and if a price unsatisfactory to their av- 
arice or cupidity could only be obtained, they were sold to 



SCENES IN RICHMOND. 193 

these fictitious purchasers, to be resold at an early day, at a 
price far exceeding that offered at the previous sale. Had 
these dishonest proceedings been confined to articles of 
taste or luxury alone, we could better have endured the im- 
positions and extortions for which we had no redress; but 
when, for the bare necessaries of Ufe, we were at the mercy 
of these relentless persecutors, the curse became so heavy 
that we groaned and writhed under it. 

The remark of a lady, " After the war is over, the par- 
venues of the time will roll by in their splendid carriages, 
and throw the dust of their insolence in the faces of the old 
aristocrats," was quoted by many, and the prospect for such 
a state of things seemed" altogether probable. 

In the stores of the jewellers there were never finer dia- 
monds exhibited in Richmond. The sellers were not usu- 
ally those who had been long established there, but new 
shops were opened, in which were displayed splendid gems, 
fine watches, and various other articles which gave rise to 
the question, " Where did they come from ?" . They v/ere, 
however, sold, and the fortunate purchasers made wise in- 
vestment of their Confederate money in diamonds and 
other gems. The excuse offered for all this was always 
found in the depreciation of the currency, which continued 
until the inflation of the prices on articles of food and cloth- 
ing, put it quite out of the powder of the masses to live in any 
sort of comfort. As yet, when spoken to on the subject of 
peace by submission, we were laughed at, and the noble 
reply, " We can endure much more before we are prepared 
to submit dishonorably," was that which came from the 
lips of those who were subjected to these additional dis- 
tresses. 

That the depreciation of the currency was brought about 
or greatly assisted by the insane spirit of speculation which 
possessed the people, is true beyond the power of refuta- 
tion, and the valueless money was only made the apology 
for the continued frauds that were practiced on the govern- 
ment and the people. 
9 



194 SCENES IN EICHMOND. 

It was, however, resisted by many, who were impotent to 
correct it. The indulgence in extravagances, and even the 
purchase of necessary articles of clothing, were abandoned 
by the better thinking and more patriotic class of our in- 
habitants. It was not in the power of the ladies of 
Richmond to manufacture their domestic dresses, as did 
the ladies in other parts of the South, but they became 
proficient in making their carefully kept wardrobe (by 
judicious turning and mending, and careful brushings 
and cleansing,) appear quite as well as they wished in the 
situation in which we were placed. Luxurious dressing was 
altogether given up, but for neatness, taste, elegance and 
refinement, even under the Confederate dress, the Southern 
women would compare favorably with those who never for 
a moment were shut out from the world of fashion and in- 
dulgence. 

Our gentlemen appeared under their home-made hats, 
their homespun coats, or well-worn broadcloth, brushed un- 
til the threadbare appearance indicated the length of time in 
which it had been in service, or better, the coarse Confederate 
grey, was the fashionable dress of the Southern gentleman. 

It was not in the power of our people to cultivate the ca 
prices of fashion, nor to indulge in wanton luxury or ex- 
travagance, to be clad in scarlet or fine linen, nor to fare 
sumptuously every day, but they cultivated the better graces 
of the heart, the refinement of benevolence and Christian 
charity, and laid by useful lessons of economy and content- 
ment, and became philosophers under the bitter chastise- 
ment of most cruel adversity. The cheerful fortitude with 
which the people of the South endured the numberless ills 
entailed upon them by the course of war bids us hold them 
up as brilliant examples of virtuous patriotism and heroic 
contentment. 



The brave unfortunate are our best acquaintance; 
They show us vu:tue may be much distressed, 
And give us their example how to suffer." 



SCENES IN RICHMOND. 195 

like literature of the time was almost wliolly connected 
■wih the all-engrossing topic of the war. Histories of bat- 
tWs and sieges, of successes and defeats, of dangers by land 
and sea, were those with which the Confederate reader was 
uJaially entertained. But in our miseries and misfortunes 
wi were frequently cheered by mercifnl visits from the 
mnses, who, picking their way through the blockade, and 
running the gauntlet of Hnes of battle, and ignoring whizzing 
balls anc!^ bursting, crackling shell, would sing a lullaby to 
anxious fer.rs, or inspire strains of patriotism. The war 
poetry of tr,e South would do credit to and would be 
proudly claimed by any nation. 

Romance .vas little indulged. There were neither the 
time nor the m,eans for it. The appearance of " Macaria," 
from the eloq ^'^nt pen of Miss Evans, of Mobile, was a wel- 
come exceptic '», to the literature of the times. A few books 
straggled tu us through the blockade. Joseph the Second 
and his Cou.^'-', and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, afforded 
us the most ^TDleasurable recreation and enjoyment, and 
added a che -ming variety to our reading. A few original 
novelettes appcd^-ed, but there was little hterary endeavor. 
Mental improvement was pursued under difficulties well- 
nigh unconquerable.- 

A remarkable change had become evident in the agricul- 
tural interests of our people. As the raising of cotton in 
the more southern States had been superseded by the 
cultivation of the then more important crops of wheat, 
corn, oats, rye, and potatoes, for the use of man and 
beast, so in Virginia the " nauseous weed," so long a source 
of wealth to her planters, was made to yield place to the 
cereals which furnished bread for the people and the army. 
In many sections of our country, from which the slaves had 
been driven or seduced to leave, the plowing and reaping, 
the hoeing and planting, were performed by men over the 
conscript age, assisted by the women, the dehcate daughters 
of ease, whose faces the "winds of heaven " had never been 
permitted to "visit too roughly;" and these labors, made 



196 BURNSIDE's CAMPAIGN. 

compulsory by cruel misfortune, were performed with cbeer- 
fuhiess, and in no craven spirit of submission, or longings 
for luxurious- indulgence heard in a sigh for the "flesh-pvts 
of Egypt." 



CHAPTEE XXXVni. 

BUENSIDe's campaign KEFUGEES IN KICHMONF. 

ALTHOUGH no State of the South had ^been exempt 
fi'om the scourge, Virginia had borne the brunt of the 
war. Wherever the foot of the invader had Ir oen pressed, 
it left its mark in desolation. Along the Potomac Kiver 
scarcely a dwelling remained to indicate thoij that fair re- 
gion had once been the abode of one of the happiest, most 
refined and intelligent communities in ou^ ^ country, but 
charred monuments of destruction betokened,^ the work of 
the incendiary and the despoiler. ^ 

We had enjoyed for an unusual length of -ime a season 
of calmness, but it was not to continue^ much longer. 
Our enemies were not satisfied to depredate alone upon 
our northern border. The cry : " On to Richmond ! " 
again awoke an echo from our fancie*.^ security. A change 
of programme had been effected. iDiscarding the beaten 
track of his unfortunate predecessors. General Burnside 
charged himself with the destruction of the rebel capital 
in the usual "ten days," but by a different route. Through 
Fredericksburg, though by a feint in the direction of Gor- 
donsviUe, he expected to deceive his formidable rival, and 
thus secure the shorter road to Richmond and the attain- 
ment of the desired end, by crossing the Rappahannock at 
that city, under tte impression that General Lee had thrown 
a large portion of his force down the river and elsewhere, 
and had thus weakened his defences in the front. How fa- 
tally this mistake told upon his enterprise, is inferable from 
the unwilHng retreat he was compelled to make across the 



buenside's campaign. 197 

Rappahannock, and the immense heaps of dead left behind 
him to testify to the failure of his movement. On the night 
of the 10th of December the enemy began to throw his 
bridges across the Eappahannock. On the night of the 
11th the cheers from the troops announced that the work 
was completed, and it only remained for the two armies to 
take such position as they could best obtain for the dreadful 
work ahead of them. Ah-eady the bombardment had com- 
menced. Hundreds of families, remaining there until the 
last moment, now fled for their lives from ^he homes that 
had sheltered them. There they were, in the cold of win- 
ter, wandering, houseless, hungry and wretched, they knew 
not whither, seeking safety wherever they could find it, and 
many following the track of the railroad until they found 
shelter from the freezing cold, and were out of sight if not 
of sound of the missiles of destruction that were desolating 
the homes from which they had been forced under such 
cruel circumstances. 

On the morning of the 13th of December, as the sun rose 
and dispersed the fog that had settled over the mutilated 
remains of old Fredericksburg, it revealed the Confederate 
troops under arms and awaiting the attack from the forces 
of Burnside. Their batteries were all in position, and soon 
the belching fire, and smoke, and death, and carnage, and 
conflict of battle shook the hills that surrounded the ancient 
town. Our enemies fought perseveringly, but against them 
the two Hills were operating; StonewallJackson was forcing 
them with his unconquered band of heroes ; General Long- 
street was coolly trying their steel ; General Early was suc- 
cessfully telling upon them a story of dismay, and General 
Stuart was redeeming his promise to " crowd 'em " with ar- 
tillery. The attack on IVIary's Heights, committed to the 
task of General Meagher, with his brave Irish troops, left a 
sad witness, in the piles of his dead, of his failure to secure 
this strong position of the Confederates. The fighting was 
principally with artillery. Again and again the enemy ral- 
lied under the sure and steady fire of the "rebels," but 



198 buenside's campaign. 

were finally driven back in despair, and puslied into the 
town by our infantry. 

The day was won. Victory once more perched on the 
banner of the Confederates, and the utter rout of the army 
of General Burnside was only prevented, perhaps, by the 
failure on the part of the "rebels" to attack his forces on the 
next day, while they remained in Fredericksburg, without 
affording them time to attempt to recross the river. This 
they accomphshed on the following night, unmolested — and 
the army that had seemed in the very jaws of destruc- 
tion quietly reorgailized on the shore opposite the town, 
which to many had appeared as inevitably the scene of their 
utter demolition. 

Again at this place was repeated the old story of a bar- 
ren victory. A powerful check had been given to the 
enemy, but no more than a check. He had succeeded per- 
fectly in withdrawing the army that had seemed in the 
grasp of capture. 

A Southern historian says: "The story of Fredericksburg 
is incomplete and unsatisfactory, and there appeared no 
prospect but that a war waged at awful sacrifices was yet 
indefinitely to hnger in the trail of bloody skirmishes. The 
victory which had only the negative advantage of having 
checked the enemy, vdthout destroying him, and the vulgar 
glory of having killed and wounded several thousand men 
more than we had lost, had been purchased by us with lives 
though comparatively small in numbers, yet infinitely more 
precious than those of the mercenary hordes arrayed against 
us." 

Besides large numbers of brave men from the ranks, and 
numerous subordinate officers in this battle, we lost two dis- 
tinguished brigadier-generals. They were General Thomas 
K. K. Cobb, of Georgia, (brother of General Howell Cobb, a 
member of our provisional Congress, and a man well known 
in the political circles of our country,) and General Maxcy 
Gregg, of South Carolina. 

Every battle added fresh leaves to the mourning chaplet 



buenside's campaign. 199 

of the South. General Gregg's name was so familiarly asso- 
ciated with the opening of the war, that to us in Eichmond 
it had become a "household word." He had commanded 
the first regiment sent to the war in Virginia, (the 1st 
South Carolina Regiment. ) After its term of service had ex- 
pired, and it had returned to its native State, Colonel Gregg 
remained in Virginia, and subsequently reorganized the reg- 
iment^ which after that time was constantly and conspicu- 
ously in service. He was afterwards commissioned Briga- 
dier-General. 

General Gregg was a lawyer of distinguished ability, and 
had for more than twenty years held a prominent position 
at the bar of South Carolina. He possessed, in an eminent 
degree, that thorough goodness of heart, that real politeness, 
which can emanate alone from the generous and virtuous, 
and the most finished eulogy on his fine character is better 
expressed in the remark of an humble courier, who said of 
him, "He was the General who always said to his. couriers, 
* / thank you ' to do this and that," than in any redundant 
terms of measured encomium. We find that " General 
Gregg was remarkable for his firm and unflinching temper. 
In the army he had an extraordinary reputation for self- 
possession and sang froid in battle. He was never discon- 
certed, and had the happy faculty of inspiring the courage 
of his troops — not so much by words as by his cool deter- 
mination and even behavior." The conduct of the women 
of Fredericksburg at this terrible time surpasses all expressed 
admiration, and the success of our engagement there is greatly 
attributable to their heroic courage and patriotic self-abne- 
gation. 

The writer to whom we have so frequently referred, says, 
" The romance of the story of Fredericksburg is written no 
less in the heroism of her women than in deeds of arms. 
The verses of the poet, rather than the cold language of 
the mere chronicle of events, are the most fitting to describe 
the beautiful courage and noble sacrifices of these brave 
daughters of Virginia, who preferred to see their homes 



200 ' burnside's campaign. 

reduced to ashes rather than polluted by the invader, and who 
in the blasts of winter, and in the fiercer storms of blood 
and fire went forth undismayed, encouraging our soldiers, 
and proclaiming their desire to sufi'er privation, poverty, and 
death, rather than the shame of a surrender, or the misfor- 
tune of a defeat. In all the terrible scenes of Fredericks- 
burg there were no weahness and tears of woman. Mothers, 
exiles from their homes, met their sons in the ranks, em- 
braced them, told them their duty, and with a self-abnega- 
tion most touching to witness, concealed from them their 
want, sometimes their hunger, telling their brave boys they 
were comfortable and happy, that they might not be troubled 
with domestic anxieties. At Hamilton's Crossing, (near 
Fredericksburg, on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Po- 
tomac Railroad, ) " Many of the women had the opportunity 
of meeting their relatives in the army. In the haste of 
flight mothers brought a few garments, or perhaps the last 
loaf of bread for the soldier boy, and the lesson of duty 
whispered in the ear, gave to the young heart the pure and 
brave inspiration to sustain it in battle. No more touching 
and noble evidence of the heroism of the women of Fred- 
ericksburg could be offered than the gratitude of our army, 
for afterwards, when subscriptions for their relief came to be 
added up it was found that thousands of dollars had been 
contributed by ragged soldiers out of their pittance of pay 
to the fund of the refugees. There could be no more elo- 
quent tribute than this offered to the women of Fredericks- 
burg — a beautiful and immortal souvenir of their sufferings 
and virtues." 

What occurred in the sacking of the town must bring a 
blush of shame to the cheeks of all those who were engaged in 
the wanton destruction and robbery of the houses of those 
forced to leave under such cruel circumstances. Not even 
the thirst for revenge, the promptings of malice against a 
people who had dared to raise their hands to prevent fur- 
ther encroachments upon principles they held as sacred, — but 
to which others gave the name ^'treason,'' — can excuse the Taw- 



buenside's campaign. 201 

less violence and the wanton destruction of the places of 
abode of wandering and helpless women. " Might " can 
never make Eight a cowardice, that takes form in deeds of 
ignoble revenge. 

Very soon the population of Richmond was increased by 
hundreds of these helpless refugees, hundreds of the wound- 
ed of our army, and hundreds of the prisoners taken captive 
at this time. The labors of benevolence that had been for 
awhile suspended, or less extensively exercised, were called 
into full action, and the summer occupation of the inhabitants 
of Richmoiid was rehearsed in the cold of winter. There 
did not at this time exist so great a number of private hos- 
pitals, but the general hospitals remained in full operation, 
and the nursing qualifications of the women of Virginia 
were kept in constant practice. 

Conspicuous among the ladies of the South, whose man- 
agement of hospitals in Richmond was blessed to the final 
health or the comfortable condition of the soldier, we 
mention first the noble " Sisters of Charity," of the institu- 
tion of St. Joseph's and St. Frances de Sales, Mrs. Judge 
Hopkins, of Alabama, Mrs. General Memminger, of Georgia, 
Mrs. Webb, Miss S. Robinson, Mrs. Judge Clapton, and 
Mrs. Grant, of Richmond; Miss Mason, Mrs. Rowland, 
Mrs. Hove, Mrs. Taylor, of Virginia; Mrs. Upham, of Lou- 
isiana, and many other ladies whose names it is unneces- 
sary to mention, bat who were angels of mercy to the sick, 
the wounded, and helpless sufferers from the dire misfor- 
tunes of the war. Again the cycle of time had brought to 
us the Christmas season. But with sadder remembrances 
stiU was the festival observed than that of one year before. 
Aside from the usual religious observances of the day — the 
joining in the chorus : 

" Shout the glad tidings, exulting sing — 
Jerusalem triumphs, Messiah is king," 

there was httle to remind us of the festival of yore. 

The Christmas dinner passed off gloomily. The vacant 



202 RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 

cliairs were multiplied in Soutliern homes, and even the 
children who had so curiously questioned the cause of the 
absence of the young soldier brother from the festive board, 
had heard too much, had seen too much, and knew too well 
why sad-colored garments were worn by the mother, and 
the fold of rusty crape placed around the worn hat of the 
father, and why the joyous mirth of the sister was re- 
strained, and her beautiful figure draped in mourning. 
Congratulations were forced, and tears had taken the place 
of smiles on countenances where cheerfulness was wont to 
reign. * . 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 

AT an early period in the New Year — 1863 — the Confed- 
erate Congress reassembled, and our reading was va- 
ried by the daily reports from that body, and our time 
enlivened by mornings spent at the Capitol. Discussions 
in Congress were mainly carried on between Mr. Foote, on 
the one side, and one or another of his many incorrigible 
opposers on the other. He was sensibly affected with the im- 
portance of making terms with certain of the Western and 
Middle States, which were suffering from the effects of the 
war, in proportion as the New England States were gaining 
in wealth and importance, by tendering them the free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi River, and proposing to secure to 
them that right in an alliance with the Confederacy. How- 
ever much these propositions, apparently submitted in good 
faith by the aged meinber, may have been for the real good 
of the Confederacy, they were feebly encouraged by the 
press, and in the army and in Congress it seemed enough 
that they originated with the unfortunately unpopular mem- 
ber. 



EUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 203 

That active measures were necessary on the part of our 
Congress to meet the opx^ortunity which had arisen in the 
divided sentiment at the North, from the Emancipation 
Proclamation of Mr. Lincohi, appeared obvious ; and that 
terms offered the States so greatly disaffected at that time 
to the Federal government, by internal trouble, might have 
resulted in good for the Confederacy is also supposable ; 
but these opportunities for profit, if indeed they did 
exist, were x^ermitted to pass by unimproved — were lost. 
UjDon whose head must rest the consequences we know 
not. 

The scarcity of provisions was becoming a matter of se- 
rious consideration. This is known from the fact that Con- 
gress passed laws for the impressment of food for the army. 
At the same time our financial troubles had grown to be 
alarming. 

A great portion of our territory, and especially the prin- 
cipal grain-growing section of Virginia, was in the occupa- 
tion of the enemy. All these difficulties combined to bring 
about the enormous prices placed on all articles of food, and 
to meet the excessive demands, CongTess authorized a heavy 
increase in the circulation of the money issued by the Con- 
federate Treasury, and every attempt made to improve our 
condition, under the unfortunate financial management of 
our Secretary of the Treasury, was from bad to worse. The 
depreciation of our currency was mainly attributable to the 
redundancy of the circulating medium, and encouraged a 
sj)irit of the wildest speculation and the most relentless ex- 
tortion. 

Blockade-running was extensively practiced by the Jews 
of Richmond, as well as by others, whose nationality, purely 
Southern, ought to have encouraged expectations of more 
decided patriotism than was exhibited by them in their in- 
sane desire to grow rich. In this unlawful business they 
found willing coadjutors in Baltimore and other cities, and 
it soon became evident that all the boxes, barrels and 



204 RUNOTNG THE BLOCKADE. 

crates that were brougtit into E,ichmond could not contain 
drugs for tlie Confederacy. The city almost abounded in 
well-filled stores. The quantity, rather than the quality, 
was noticeable in these supplies, and for the most Avorth- 
less articles we were compelled to pay the most extravagant 
prices. 

The region of country from Eichmond across the Pamun- 
ky and Mattapony Kivers, through King and Queen and Es- 
sex counties to the Rappahannock Biver, and thence across 
the northern neck of Virginia and the Potomac into Mary- 
land, was constantly traversed by these wanderers, who 
took delight in a trade which, notwithstanding the dan- 
gers from capture and the confiscation of their strangely 
gotten merchandise, had in it a pleasurable excitement. 
Ports of entry were opened at different points on the route, 
and sometimes the unlucky blockade runner, for want of 
proper credentials for carrying on his trade, was unmer- 
cifully relieved of his goods by a cunning custom-house 
officer, and the confiscation of his effects was the conse- 
quence. 

Occasionally women were found engaged in this singular 
business, and successfully smuggled into Richmond many 
articles that failed to pass the inspection of the custom- 
house officers, and thus made heavy profits on the goods 
they succeeded in taking in free of duty. A lady who had 
been on a visit to some friends in King and Queen County 
tells an amusing story of her trip to her home in Richmond, 
and her ai)prehension as a " blockade-runner." She says : 
''I had been mud-bound in King and Queen County from 
the middle of January until the beginning of March, and 
constantly fearful that by some movement of the enemy I 
might be cut off from Richmond, I was in great anxiety to 
return. From day to day it would rain and snow, and hail 
and sleet, until the roads, cut up with the heavy wagons of 
the army, were left in no condition for a carriage to travel 
even a mile in the direction of Richmond. 



RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 205 

" At last a friend took me in a buggy as far as Frazier's 
Ferry, on the Mattaponi River, with the intention of going 
with me to the White House, on the Pamunky, there to 
take the cars on the York River Railroad for Richmond. 
^VTaen we arrived at the Ferry we met not less than a dozen 
wagons, filled with the goods of the blockade runners, en 
route to Richmond. But the wind was high, and the ferry- 
man positively refused to take the boat over, as thereby he 
should endanger the lives of his passengers and the loss of 
the teams, goods, etc. I was in despair. At last two or 
three blockade runners, of the tribe of Israel, proposed to 
help me out of my difficulty by crossing in a foot-boat, and 
if a carriage could be procured on the opposite side of the 
river, to signahze me, and then I could decide whether or 
not I should accept their escort to Richmond. They were 
rather questionable looking men, and their trade being so 
much in disfavor, I debated in my mind whether 1 should 
go with them : but the fear of being thrown in the lines of 
the enemy decided me. When I caught the signal of suc- 
cess in procuring a carriage, I passed over the stream in a 
foot-boat, and on the opposite shore took leave of the kind 
gentleman, who regretted his inability to go on with me 
further. 

" Our conveyance was an ambulance, and making myself as 
agreeable as possible to my fiiends, the blockade runners, I 
passed on safely to the ferry at the White House. When 
we arrived at the river, there was standing a wagon filled 
with trunks, barrels, boxes, kegs, carpet-bags, and articles 
of baggage of every conceivable description, all' of which 
were stored around me in the ferry-boat, to the exclusion 
of my escorts. When I arrived on the opposite shore, point- 
ing out my bonnet-box and carpet-sack to an officer who as- 
sisted me from the boat, I hastily purchased a ticket at the 
station, and had only time to take my seat in tne cars be- 
fore the time for them to leave. 

" I confess I felt some anxiety for the welfare of my Jew- 



206 RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 

isli friends, but I was awakened to a sense of the suspicion 
my own appearance amid the piles of baggage had created, 
by the appearance of two villainous-looking detectives, who 
demanded my passports for the goods I was carrying through 
the blockade. 

" ' I have no blockade goods,' I replied, regarding this as 
a joke. 

" * Oh,' said the detectives, ' do you pretend to tell us that 
a lady travelhng alone can carry as much baggage as you 
carry, and have nothing contraband ?' 

" ' You are indeed mistaken,' I replied ; ' the baggage that 
came over in the boat with me is not all mine, by any means. 
I only have a small carpet-bag and a bonnet-box.' 

"'Very strange!' continued one of the detectives ; 'but 
have you a passport to go into Eichmond ?' 

" ' I did not know that a passport was necessary to take 
me into Eichmond.' 

" 'Where is your home ?' asked the detective. 

" 'In Eichmond,' I rephed. 

" ' Where have you been, and where are you now from ?' 
persisted the detective. 

" ' I have been making a visit to some friends in King and 
Queen County ; I am a native Virginian, ^nd have done all 
I could for the success of the Confedei-acy, I am a lady, 
sir, (which remark was intended to be very comprehensive,) 
and would hardly engage in the questionable business of 
blockade-running ; and from whom should I obtain a pass- 
port?' 

"I was growing angry, but began to fear further trou- 
ble. 

" ' You should have obtained a passport from a Justice of 
the Peace, and then you would not have been suspected. 
Our orders are to put- off all suspected persons.' 

" ' Well, do you intend to put me off here ? It is almost 
dark, very cold, and no accommodations for the night !' 

" ' Our orders are peremptory,' rephed the detective. 



BUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 207 

'' Turning on my seat, (the trouble was growing serious, 
that I at first considered only a capital joke,) I caught the 
attention of a Confederate oflS.cer of my acquaintance, who 
was just then approaching me, and I implored him to help 
me out of my difficulty. 

" He laughed heartily, and then turning to the persistent 
detectives, remarked : ' Be off, sirs, I can indorse this lady. 
She carries nothing contraband, I can assure you.' 

" The dissatisfied detectives, who evidently wished to have 
' a scene,' left me rather reluctantly, and soon returning, 
said to me : ' Will you be kind enough to go into the bag- 
gage-car and point out your baggage ?' 

" ' No, I will not,' I rephed ; ' if you are not satisfied with 

the identification of me by my friend. Lieutenant , 

just put me off the car, and I'll seek 'protection somewhere 
in the neighborhood, and see about this hereafter.' 

" This show of courage," said she, " drove away my per- 
secutors, but I was careful after that time not to travel over 
the route of the blockade -runners." 

This species of trade became so objectionable, and added 
so greatly to the discomfort of our situation, that " running 
in goods" in that way was made subject to a heavy legal 
penalty ; but it was either impossible to hinder the under- 
ground importation, or it was winked at, for these supphes 
of goods continued to be brought into Kichmond, and the 
temporary check to the trade by legal prohibition only made 
an excuse for the increase in price of those goods akeady 
on the shelves of the merchants. 

Whether it was in the power of Congress to correct the 
evils entailed upon us so singularly, or whether they lacked 
the moral courage to pass stringent laws against such 
abuses, it remains for those better informed to speak. 

To add to other afflictions, our city was visited by the 
small pox early in the winter. This disease not only 
prevailed among the soldiers in and around the city, but 
many of the inhabitants, exposed to the contagion they 
could not tell when, nor where, contracted the disease, and 



208 THE BEEAD KIOT IN RICHMOND. 

all over the city the infected houses were distinguished by 
the white flag of alarm from the windows. The mortality 
from small pox was not extensive, and considering all the 
circumstances of its appearance and prevalence, it existed 
for a very short time, and its disappearance was sudden. It 
is said to have .been brought into Richmond by the prison- 
ers taken at the battle of Fredericksburg ; but by the 
spring it had entirely disappeared from the city, and only 
existed at the small pox hospital, more than a mile without 
the hmits of the corporation. In connection with the small 
pox other violent diseases appeared, and there seemed to 
remain for us to endure only the last of the three great 
plagues — war, pestilence and famine! Some of our hope- 
less ones — the miserable croakers who ever look on the dark 
side of the picture — added to our distress by predicting 
that famine would certainly follow in the train of evils, and 
our enemies had engaged to bring it upon us as one of the 
means of our subjugation. 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE BREAD RIOT IN RICHMOND. 

THESE precautions had some influence in originating in 
Richmond in the Spring of this year, (1863,) a most 
disgraceful riot, to which, in order to conceal the real de- 
signs of the lawless mob engaged in it, was given the name 
of the "bread riot." 

The rioters were represented in a heterogeneous crowd of 
Dutch, Irish, and free negroes — of men, women, and chil- 
dren — armed with pistols, knives, hammers, hatchets, axes, 
and every other weapon which could be made useful in their 
defence, or might subserve their designs in breaking into 
stores for the purpose of thieving. More impudent and 
defiant robberies were never committed, than disgraced, in 



/ 



THE BREAD EIOT IX EICHMOND. 209 

the open light of day, on a bright morning in spring, the city 
of Eichmond. The cry for bread with which this yiolence 
commenced was soon subdued, and instead of articles of 
food, the rioters directed their efforts to stores containing 
dry-goods, shoes, etc. Women were seen bending under 
loads of sole-leather, or dragging after them heavy cavalry 
boots, brandishing their huge knives, and sw^earing, though 
• apparently well fed, that they were dying from starvation — 
yet it was difficult to imagine how they could masticate or 
digest the edibles under the w^eight of which they were bend- 
ing. Men carried immense loads of cotton cloth, woolen 
goods, and other articles, and but few w^ere seen to attack 
the stores where flour, groceries, and other provisions were 
kept. 

This disgraceful mob was put to flight by the mihtary. 
Cannon were planted in the street, and the order to dis- 
perse or be fired upon drove the rioters from the commer- 
cial portion of the city to the Capitol Square, where they 
menaced the Governor, until, by the continued threatenings 
of the State Guards and the efforts of the pohce in arresting 
the ringleaders, a stop was put to these lawless and violent 
proceedings. 

It cannot be denied that want of bread was at this time 
too fatally true, but the sufferers for food were not to be 
found in this mob of vicious men and lawless viragoes who, 
inhabiting quarters of the city w^here reigned riot and de- 
pravity, when followed to their homes after this demonstra- 
tion, were discovered to be well supphed with articles of 
food. Some of them were the kee^jers of stores, to which 
they purposed adding the stock stolen in their raid on 
v»'^holesale houses. 

This demonstration was made use of by the disaffected in 
our midst, and by our enemies abroad, for the misrepresen- 
tation and exaggeration of our real condition. In a little 
while the papers of the North published the most startling 
and highly colored accounts of the starving situation of the 
inhabitants of Richmond. By the prompt preventive mea- 



210 THE BEEAD BIOT IN EICHMOND. 

ures brought into requisition this riot was effectually 
silenced, and no demonstration of the kind was afterwards 
made during the war. 

The real sufferers were not of the class who would engage 
in acts of. violence to obtain bread, but included the most 
worthy and highly cultivated of our citizens, who, by the 
suspension of the ordinary branches of business, and the ex- 
treme inflation in the prices of provisions, were often re- 
duced to abject suffering; and helpless refugees, who, driven 
from comfortable homes, were compelled to seek relief in the 
crowded city, at the time insufficiently furnished with the 
means of living for the resident population, and altogether 
inadequate to the increased numbers thrown daily into it 
by the progi^ess of events. How great their necessities 
must have been can be imagined from the fact that many 
of our women, reared in the utmost ease, delicacy and re- 
finement, were compelled to dispose of all articles of taste 
and former luxury, and frequently necessary articles of 
clothing, to meet the everyday demands of life. 

These miseries and inconveniences were submitted to in no 
fault-finding spirit; and although the poverty of the masses 
increased from day, to-day there is no doubt that the sympa- 
thies of the people were unfalteringly with the revolution in 
all its phases. Our sufferings were severe, and the uncom- 
plaining temper in which they were borne was surely no evi- 
dence that there was in the Southern masses a disposition of 
craven submission, but rather of heroic devotion to a cause 
which brought into exercise the sublime power " to suffer 
and be strong." While our enemies in their country were 
fattening upon all the comforts of life, faring sumptuously 
every day, clothing themselves in rich garments, and enjoy- 
ing all that could make existence desirable, they made 
merry over the miseries endured by the South, and laughed 
at the self-abnegation of a people who surrendered luxuries 
and comforts without a murmur for the cause of the revolu- 
tion. 

Our churches were stripped of their cushions, which fur- 



SPIES. 211 

nished beds for the hospitals. Private houses were denuded 
of pillows to place under the heads of the sick. Carpets and 
ciu-tains were cut up for blankets for the soldiers, and many 
a poor woman yielded up her couch to the invalid and suffer- 
ing. Many times the dinner was taken from the table 
and distributed to soldiers in their march through our 
streets, when perhaps there was nothing in the larder with 
which to prepare another for the self-sacrificing family 
which had so geneiously disposed of the principal meal of 
the day. The generosity of our i)eople was unstinted, and 
became more and more beautifully manifest as our poverty 
increased. A disposition was evinced to withhold nothing 
of ease or luxury which might in any way benefit a cause 
that called forth the most earnest devotion of patriotism. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



THE existence of spies had become more than a mere 
suspicion, but whether from the amiable temper and 
laxity of our government or the inefficiency of our military 
poHce, there were very few apprehended and brought to trial. 
It was during the spring of 1863 that one Webster, a clerk 
in the War Department, and his wife, were suspected, 
brought to trial, and found guilty of the charge of espion- 
age for the Federal government. 

He had undertaken the difficult and dangerous part of a 
double spy, and was in the pay of both governments, and had 
also been guilty of murder. The facts being fully made man- 
ifest, he was condemned to die upon the gallows, and his 
Vv'ife, not less guilty of treachery, was sent through the lines 
to Washington. 

Since the occupation of Richmond by the Federal forces, 
we have been told by their officers that numerous spies 



212 SPIES. 

were in the city during the entire existence of the Confeder- 
acy, and were in constant communication with the enemy. 
They were, said the officers, generally ladies who occupied 
enviable positions in society, and were in the regular pay of 
the Federal government. Susj)ected persons were, however, 
extremely rare, and we are inchned to beheve the state- 
ments of these officers admit of much questioning. 

A residence there during the entire period of the Con- 
federacy, and a pretty general acquaintance with the state 
of feeling and society, would warrant us in allowing much 
latitude to remarks coming from a source which would fain 
establish the idea that a certain portion of our population, 
and a much larger portion than there is any evidence to be- 
lieve, were disaffected towards the Confederate government. 
We shall later have occasion to notice the apprehension of 
a female spy; but that they existed in alarming numbers 
cannot have been true. 

The lenity of the government towards suspected persons 
was one of its most remarkable features, and illustrates 
the confiding and unsuspecting character of the Southern 
people. "It is better to trust all than to suspect any of 
wrong," becomes not a useful maxim when circumstances 
arise such as have recently convulsed our common country. 

It was not easy for us to accredit the tale that there 
were those among us who worshipped at the same altars, 
who knelt at the same chancel, who broke bread at our 
tables, who co-operated with us in works of benevolence, 
who bent with us over the couch of suffering, and whose 
words as well as actions were all in sympathy with the rev- 
olution, who could only be enacting a falsehood, and using 
their real endeavors to sell us into the hands of our enemies; 
and all for filthy lucre — bartering for it their honesty, their 
integrity, their reputation, their eternal salvation. 

It is difficult for us to imagine that those who smiled 
when prosperity seemed about to shed over our cause a per- 
manent light, and who seemed to sorrow when our troubles 
thickened, who joyed when we joyed, who wept when we 



stoneman's raid. 213 

wept, were the ones who were ready to open upon us the 
floodgates of destruction, and to consign us to all the hor- 
rors of betrayal. We are not wilhng to, believe this to be 
true, and would let the mantle of obhvion fall over those 
who have proved so base. 



CHAPTEE XLn. 

stoneman's raid PANIC IN RICHMOND. 

ripHE cold, stern, dreary winter, through which we had 
J- experienced so many trials and had witnessed so much 
suffering, had at length departed. It had lingered tardily, 
but the snow had melted from the hillsides, and the ice- 
bound streams once more gushed forth, and made merry 
music in the warm, genial sunshine. The meadows were 
green with verdure, and bright With golden dandehons and 
buttercups. In the gardens, fragrant exotics threw out their 
budding beauties, and the atmosphere was redolent with 
their perfume. Amid the trees, feathered songsters fiUed 
the air with melody, and triUed joyous welcome to the re- 
turn of spring. All nature invited to the enjoyment of the 
season, yet were our hearts heavy, and these beauties sick- 
ening, since they but awakened the remembrance that they 
were indeed the heralds of the opening of active operations- 
in the military campaign. The roads were becoming firm, 
the mud which impeded the movement of the armies was 
fast drying up, and we looked forward to another movement 
having in view the capture of Richmond. 

The long season of quiet had been broken only by an en- 
gagement at Kelly's Ford, in Culpepper County, in March. 
Here we lost our brave young artillerist, Major Pelliam. He 
had attracted the special attention of General Lee, and was 
styled by him in his rej^ort of the battle of Fredericksburg, 
"the gallant Pelham." His remains were brought to Rich- 



214 stoneman'3 raid. 

mond, and laid in onr Capitol, and loving stranger liands 
strewed rare flowers over the young hero. 

We were now awakened by threatening demonstrations 
at our own doors. The cavalry of the enemy were becom- 
ing troublesome. The alarm bells tolled, and there ap- 
peared the forms of our enemies, headed by General Stone- 
man, at the very gates of the city. It is said that some of 
his men slept within the intrenchments. This may not have 
been true ; but it is true that they came near enough to 
create general agitation and the wildest excitement. Our 
forces for local defence were under arms at a few moments' 
notice, but the wary foes, afraid to venture upon us, though 
all unconscious of our danger, contented themselves with a 
detour around the fortifications, and passed down across 
the Chickahominy and Pamunky into the county of King 
WiUiam, where they captured a train of commissary wag- 
ons belonging to the Confederates, and frightened the 
inhabitants by their unexpected aj^pearance. No greater 
harm was done. 

How much mischief they might have wrought upon us, 
had they persisted in forcing their way into Richmond, we 
cannot tell ; but unconscious as we were of the approach of 
danger, and equally unprepared to resist it at that time, it 
may not be wrong to suppose that in a rapid raid upon our 
city much evil might have come to it. At all such times, 
mingled with the tragical there was a singular blending of 
the ludicrous. When the news spread that the Yankees were 
within a few miles of the city, the most energetic prepara- 
tions for flight were noticeable. Trunks, long empty on ac- 
count of the security that we had for months enjoyed, were 
suddenly brought out, and again the panic caused by the 
Yankees induced the more careful of our ladies to secrete 
the valuables they possessed, and make ready for flight to a 
place of greater safety. Closets, drawers and presses were 
speedily stripped of their contents, and trunks quickly filled 
and strapped for traveUing, were seen in the halls of the 
frightened inhabitants. The news was communicated from 



stoneman's raid. 215 

one to another on the street, the bells were rung frantically, 
and the whole place was soon thrown into the most intense 
alarm. 

An old lady, noticing the commotion, stopped a gentle- 
man on the street and inquired the cause of it. On being 
informed, she turned about to go back to her home. An- 
other lady, perceiving her perturbation, and not having 
been informed of the cause of the agitation of her friend, 
approached quickly and asked : " What is the matter ?" 
The old lady rephed : "Why, the Yankees are within two 
miles of Richmond! I was just going up on Broad street 
to purchase a bonnet, but now I shan't go." Her friend, 
notwithstanding the evident cause for alarm, could not sup- 
press a laugh at the manner and language of the old lady. 
<« Why, will you not need a bonnet if the Yankees do come ?" 
inquired the second lady. " No, no ; I shall want no bon- 
net if the Yankees get here ! '* returned the old lady, hasten- 
ing her steps in the direction of her home. " No, I shall 
not want a bonnet ! " 

The raid of General Stoneman, while it appeared so in- 
significant in its results, was the precursor of the great 
battle which occurred in the month of May, on the banks 
of the Rappahannock. The long delay, the " grand hesita- 
tion " of the enemy, had been the cause of much impatience 
at the South. We had seen one and another of the com- 
manders of the armies of our enemies deposed, and more 
trustworthy men, or those who made louder pretensions to 
skill, elevated to the command of the Northern army, to try 
the mettle of the veteran "Army of Northern Virginia." 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

hooker's campaign DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON. 

TO General Hooker, whose fighting qualities had gained 
for him the sobriquet of " P'ighting Joe," was committed 



216 

the command of the army declared to be the " finest army 
on the planet," the same which had so frequently fled before 
the "ragged rebels" led on by General Lee. Once more 
these ragged rebels, these miserable troops, that were 
despised by the well-fed, well-clad troops of our enemies, 
were to meet them on the field of conflict. Once more 
the " On to Richmond " movement was to receive a check 
at the hands of our invincible Lee, and another Federal 
commander was destined to the place on ** the shelf " 
occupied by so many illustrious predecessors. But we 
are anticipating. Hooker, following the plan of General 
Burnside, attempted the " On to Richmond " by the way of 
Fredericksburg. He was allowed by General Lee to cross 
the Rappahannock without opposition and without loss, and 
to secure a position deemed by him impregnable, where he 
proclaimed: "The rebels must fly ingloriously, or come out 
from their defences and do battle on our own ground, (the 
ground of the Yankees,) where certain destruction awaited 
them." 

To secure success, nothing had been left wanting in the 
appointment of his army. The North had been ransacked 
for horses for the cavalry and for artillery purposes ; the 
most improved arms had been placed in the hands of the 
troops ; General Hooker had made extraordinary exertions 
to increase the strength of his army, and everything was 
done to ^Dlace every department of the command upon a 
thorough war footing ; and these labors completed, our en- 
emies vain gloriously boasted that they only awaited the 
exx^ected measurement of strength to overwhelm Lee with 
his army of "half-starved secesh." This spirit of confidence 
seems to have been shared with General Hooker by the ma- 
jority of officers in his command. 

Whether deceived by the false representations of spies, 
or whether from an overweening confidence in his own abil- 
ity to succeed, the Federal commander made the loudest 
pretensions to wisdom in the management of an army, and 
represented to his government the causes for failure in his 



hookek's campaign. 217 

predecessors in command, and pointed out the manner in 
whicli he would steer clear of the shoals upon which thej 
had been stranded, and moor his bark in a haven of peace, 
by the destruction of the army of the Confederates, under 
General Lee. 

Wisely keeping his counsel, but keenly watching the 
movements of the enemy, General Lee permitted his plans 
of strategy to be perfected, and when all was arranged, and 
he had secured a position which he deemed impregnable, 
while congratulating himself upon his good fortune in se- 
eming the rear of the Confederate army, and finding only a 
small force to oppose him, and while engaging Anderson's 
and McLaw's divisions in the front, with the swift move- 
ments for which he was so famous, and in the mystery 
which he termed the " secret of success," General Jackson 
amazed and confounded the Federal commander by sud- 
denly falling upon his right and rear. His assault was fierce 
and furious. Says a wi'iter of the time : " In a short time 
he threw Sigel's corps (the Eleventh) of Dutchmen into a 
perfect panic, and was di'iving the whole right wing of the 
Yankee army fiercely down upon Anderson's and McLaw's 
sturdy veterans, who in turn hurled them back, and ren- 
dered futile their efibrts to break through our lines, and 
made it necessary for them to give back towards the river. 
There was an intermission of about one hour in the firing, 
from three until nine o'clock. It was about this time that 
General Jackson received his death wound from his own 
men, who mistook him for the enemy." 

For three days, with short intervals in which to give some 
attention to the dead and wounded, this bloody work con- 
tinued. Time after time the enemy rallied* his almost dis- 
comfited hosts, and 'brought them to the onset to be beaten 
back, to rally again, until, on the evening of the 4th of May, 
the signal for a general attack was given, when the Con- 
federates rushed on the foe with the fury of a hurri- 
cane. 

But Httle further resistance was made. The enemy were 
10 



218 hooker's campaign. 

driven in the wildest confusion to the banks of the river, 
and on that night ended his remarkable series of battles on 
the lines of the Eaj^pahannock. 

The courage of our troops, tested on so many fields 
of conflict previous to this time, had been fully maintained 
during this succession of bloody battles. The ragged Eeb- 
els had defeated and discomfited the well-appointed armies 
of the vainglorious Federal commander, who, taking ad- 
vantage of the rain and darkness of the succeeding night, 
recrossed the Rappahannock, and on the opposite bank 
reorganized his shattered and disheartened forces. 

But with the thanksgivings for victory that went up from 
our hearts; with the shouts of triumph in which, with the 
deeds of our brave troops, there were blended the names of 
Lee, Jackson, the two Hills, Wilcox, Barksdale, Stuart, 
EweU, Rhodes, Pryor, Anderson, McLaws, and others hold- 
ing rank in our army, (too numerous to mention,) there 
went up from every Southern heart a wail, so long, so loud, 
that in the sad sound was heard only the heart-breaking 
refrain, " Jackson has fallen !" It could not be, the unwel- 
come news could not be true ! "We hugged the phantom 
Hope from day to day, as from all who could give us 
information we anxiously inquired after the condition of 
his wounds. Anon we would hear, "He is better — his 
wounds, though serious, are not necessarily fatal," and 
buoyed up with the thought *'he cannot die; he is an 
immortal reahty," we prayed for his recovery, and very 
few sent up to the ear of the Almiglity their petition 
coujDled with Christian resignation to the Almighty, will. 
Discarding the submission which should have accompanied 
our confidence in the wisdom of the dispensations of Prov- 
idence, and not possessing the sublimity of faith, the sim- 
ple, childlike trust in God, vfhich issued from the lips of 
our beloved hero, in the thrilling words, "It is all right!" 
we felt that we could not give him up. We hoped on until 
hope was against hope, and then came the crushing intelli- 



HOOKERS CAMPAIGN. 219 

gence that covered our hearts with the midnight gloom 
of sorrow — " Jackson is dead !" A pall of deepest mourn- 
ing mantled the South, and with impious hearts we in- 
veighed against the will of God in the destruction of our 
idol. 

The thunderbolt was too sudden, the blow too heavy. 
Our uninstructed hearts were not prepared for a chastise- 
ment so severe, and in the miserable impotence of human 
nature we dared to question the designs of Omnipotence. 
What to us were the victories gained on the fields of Fred- 
ericksburg and Chancellorsville ? ^Vhat to us were all the 
spoils of conquest ? What to us were the long hues of cap- 
tives that were marched through our streets ? What to us 
all the glories that perched upon the banners of the Con- 
federacy ? What to us the triumjDhs that proclaimed trumpet- 
tongued the deeds of heroes and martyrs in the cause of 
the South, when the tower of strength upon which we had 
leaned had been overthrown — the brave heart upon which 
we had thro^vn so great a portion of the dire troubles that 
surrounded us had been stilled in the icy calmness of 
death ! 

Were we writing alone of the soldier, we should refer 
with sadness to the grief which must have torn his noble 
soul as he listened upon his couch of suffering to the roar of 
battle that still raged, and reflected on the probable condi- 
tion of his beloved command, that seemed dearer to him 
than the hfe that was soon to be extinct. We should refer 
with pride to the declaration made by him with the glow 
of martial ardor suffusing his countenance, and the proud 
smile that is said to have beamed over his face, " If I had 
not been wounded, or had had one hour more of daylight, 
I could have cut off the enemy from the road to United 
States Ford; we would have had them entirely surrounded, 
and they would have been obliged to surrender or cut 
their way out— they had no other alternative. My troops 
may sometimes fail in driving an enemy from a position, 



220 hookek's campaign. 

but the enemy always fails to drive my men from a posi- 
tion." 

We sliould refer with pleasure to the fact that in his 
moments of suffering he remembered and kindly inquired 
after the o£S.cers of his command, and thoughtfully remem- 
bered the honor due General Ehodes, whose commission, 
said he, as Major General should date from that day, (mean- 
ing from the 2nd of May, for gallant conduct on the field 
of Chancellorsville,) — we should refer to the pride with 
which he regarded the brigade made memorable through 
their wonderful leader, and the smile with which he said, 
" The men who Hve through this war will be proud to say, 
to their children, 'I was one of the Stonewall brigade!'" 

But it is not of Stonewall Jackson alone, the soldier, 
that we write — but of more — of Jackson the Christian ! It 
was not alone on the battle field that traits of heroism 
shone out so conspicuously in his spotless character; but 
the patient resignation, the calm " Thy will be done, oh 
Lord !" with which he awaited the sure and steady coming 
of the " King of terrors," had more of heroism in it than 
the coui^agewith which he had faced so often the mouth of 
the cannon. The calmness with which he could say to his 
stricken wife, when she informed him that his physicians 
thought he had not long to live, " Very good, very good; 
it is all right," had more of sublimity in it than the valor 
which dilated his figure as the battle raged, and carved his 
name in letters of immortality. 

The Christian character which shone out in the gesture 
that raised his hand to heaven, at which signal the men of 
his command would take off their hats, and order, " Hush ! 
old Stonewall's going to pray !" was more radiant far than 
the mighty deeeds which made him the idol of his men and 
the terror of the enemy. 

The following account of the dying moments of this great 
and good man is taken from the authentic testimony of a 
religious fiiend and companion: 

"He endeavored to cheer those who were around him. 



hooker's campmgn. 221 

Noticing the sadness of his beloved wife, he said to her, 
tenderly, 'I know you would gladly give your life for me, 
but I am perfectly resigned. Do not be sad; I hope I shall 
recover. Pray for me, but always remember to use in your 
prayer the petition, " Thy will be done." Those who were 
around him noticed a remarkable development of tenderness 
in his manner and feelings during his illness, that was a beau- 
tiful mellowing of that iron sternness and imperturbable calm 
that characterized him in his military operations. Advising 
his wife in the event of his death to return to her father's 
house, he remarked, ' You have a kind and good father, but 
there is none so kind and good as your Heavenly Father.' 
"When she told him the doctors did not think he could 
live two hours, although he did not expect, himself, to die, 
he replied, ' It will be infinite gain to be translated to 
Heaven and be with Jesus.' He then said he had much to say 
to her but was too weak. He had always desired to die, if it 
were God's will, on the Sabbath, and seemed to greet its 
light that day with peculiar pleasure, saying, with evident 
delight, ' It is the Lord's day,' and inquired anxiously what 
provision had been made for preaching to the army; and 
having ascertained that arrangements were made he was 
contented. Delirium, which occasionally manifested itself 
during the last two days, prevented some of the utterances 
of faith which would otherwise have doubtless been made. 
His thoughts vibrated between religious subjects and the 
battle field; now asking some questions about the Bible 
or church history, and then giving an order, *Pass the 
infantry to the front,' ' Tell Major Hawks to send forward 
provisions to the men,' ' Let us cross over the river and rest 
under the shade of the trees,' until at last his gallant spirit 
gently passed over the dark river and entered on its 
rest." 

'* For none return from those quiet shores 

Who cross with the boatman cold and pale; 
"We hear the dip of the golden oars, 
And catch the gleam of the snowy sail, 



222 hooker's campaign. 

"And lo ! they have passed from our yearning heart. 

They cross the stream, and are gone for aye; 
We may not sunder the veil apart 

That hides from our vision the gates of day. " 

With the words of cheerful resignation, " It is all right/' 
with which he bowed to the will of God, almost the last 
words that fell from his lips were, "A. P. Hill, prepare for 
action !" and at fifteen minutes past three in the evening 
of the 10th of May this great spirit returned to the God 
who had given it to bless us only a httle while here on 
earth. 

Such was the death of Jackson, resigned, cheerful, hope- 
ful. As his life had been a model of all that was enno- 
bling in virtue, heroism and patriotism, his death taught the 
more useful lesson still — ^how a Christian soldier ought to 
die. 

His body was conveyed to Richmond, where a great and 
solemn pageant attested the feeling of universal loss in the 
death of this hero-idol of the South. His body was em- 
balmed and laid in a metallic cof&n in the reception room 
at the Governor's House. The mourning and stricken 
daughters of the South congregated from all parts of the 
Confederacy in Richmond, wended their way to the sacred 
spot, and covered the star-crossed pall with floral offerings, 
bedewed with the tears of national grief. The coffin was 
draped with the snow-white banner of the Confederate 
States — fit emblem of his own pure spirit and the sublime 
courage with which he bore his Master's cross. Alas ! it was 
the first use to which was devoted this, the new banner of 
his cause, under whose folds we had so hoped to see him 
travel until its estabhshment; but there rested his noble 
form — 

" Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

On the next morning at the appointed hour, the coffin was 
borne to the hearse, a signal gun was fired from near the 



hookek's campaign. 223 

equestrian statue of Wasliington on the Capitol Square, 
and the great procession began to move to the solemn 
strains of the Dead March in Saul. The hearse was pre- 
ceded by two regiments of General Pickett's division, with 
arms reversed, General Pickett and staff, the Fayette Artil- 
lery, and Warren's company of cavalry. The carriage which 
bore the body came slowly, mournfully on, the mourning- 
plumes nodding dark and gloomily, and casting long shad- 
ows over the flower-covered ensign under the folds of which 
he would have caught that heroic mspiration that he had 
been wont to communicate to the Old Brigade. Then, led 
by a gTOom, came the war-horse of the dead soldier, capari- 
soned for battle, and bearing across the saddle the boots last 
worn by the rider now still in death. Then followed, with 
saddened mien, and hearts crushed mth heavy sorrow, the 
staff officers of the departed hero; then, more sadly still, 
the remaining members of the Stonewall Brigade, invahds 
and wounded, with downcast looks and sad forebodings that 
they should never see his like again; then, a vast array of 
officials, President Davis, the members of his Cabinet, Gen- 
erals Longstreet, Elzey, Winan, Kemper, Garnett, Corse, \Jf^ 
Commodore Forrest, and other officers of the Confederate 
Navy, the Mayor and city authorities of Richmond, and a 
long cavalcade of carriages bearing the heart-broken friends 
of the deceased. 

The procession, nearly a mile in lengih, proceeded down 
Governor street, and thence up to the head -of Main street, 
whence it returned to the western gate of the Capitol 
Square, where a dense throng, of countless numbers, 
awaited to see it enter. 

Business had been suspended in the city, and all along 
the route of the procession were seen the saddened counte- 
nances of weeping fiiends and admirers, as they gazed on 
the mighty pageant that commemorated the death of Stone- 
wall Jackson. The hearse moved on to the steps of the 
Capitol, the band playing a mournful dirge, and lifting the 
coffin, the pall-bearers, General Longstreet, General Xem- 



224 

per, General Elzey, and others, bore it into the Hall of the 
House of ReiDresentatives, where it was deposited on an al- 
tar covered with white linen, and looped with bows of crape, 
in front of the Speaker's chair. The crowd was then admit- 
ted. So densely were the multitude packed in the vestibule 
and halls that opened into the legislative chambers of the 
Capitol, that only one at a time could be admitted to 
view the remains of the man who had won so dear a 
place in the hearts of the peox)le. Slowly and patiently 
they remained, regardless of the sweltering heat which op- 
pressed them, until a fortunate moment placed them at the 
door of the haU, now sacred with the hallowed dust that in 
it lay, and then a moment's glance at the loved form, no 
more to be witnessed until the last trump shall sound the 
awakening note to the resurrection of the just. A momen- 
tary glance, a single tear on the lid of the coffin, and they 
passed away to give place to others in waiting. AU day, 
and until a late hour of the night, this continued, and it 
is computed that more than twenty thousand persons 
came thus to gaze on the form so dear, now stiU in the 
quiet repose of death, to pay this last tribute of admira- 
tion to the body of General Stonewall Jackson, " who, 
though he were dead, yet shall he hve!" — "that was not 
born to die." 

"When we reflect upon his stainless reputation, Vv^e feel 
that he was one of whom the world was not worthy, — that 
*'he walked with God, and was not, for God took him." 
With us, Jackson can never die. The mouldering remains 
that lie where he wished them, in the beautiful village of 
Lexington, in the Valley of Virginia, are not aU of him ; 
there is an immortal part to which all the South, all the 
noble, good and true of all lands lay claim, — the spirit of 
patriotism in Stonewall Jackson, — that can never die! In 
our souls he lives ; in our hearts is graven the name whose 
destiny is a glorious immortality. Though dead, he yet 
hves — shall ever live ! 

From the Capitol the remains of General Jackson were 



hooker's campaign. 225 

conveyed to Lexington, where so many years of his life had 
been spent in the tranquil qniet of domestic life, according 
to the murmured wish of his last moments : " Bury me in 
Lexington, in the Valley of Virginia." 

Around this unpretending little village how many tender 
associations now cluster ! There He the remains of the great, 
the good Stonewall Jackson, to whose tomb the pilgruns of 
the South may wend their way, if not with the idolatrous 
devotion of the Mussulnian to the tomb of Mahomet, yet 
with a patriotic devotion, which would bend the knee upon 
the hallowed sod, and pray to the mighty God whom he 
served, that a double portion of the spirit that moved this 
wonderful man may descend upon the sons of freedom, and 
nerve their arm as his was nerved, to the service of their 
country. 

The distress of General Lee, when informed of the dan- 
gerous nature of the wounds received by General Jackson, 
and the critical condition of his health, is said to have been 
of the most poignant character. The soul of the great com- 
mander, so long tutored to self-control, bursting the bonds 
which fettered the emotion he could no longer restrain, 
cried out, in the anguish of the deepest bitterness : "Jack- 
son wiU not, he cannot die !" "Waging his attendants from 
him with his hand, he repeated "he cannot, he cannot die I" 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SUrFEHINGS OF THE WOUNDED LACK OF SUPPLIES. 

WE had but little time to indulge the luxury of grief in 
quiet retirement. The mournful strains, as they 
grew fainter and fainter on the ear, had only died at last 
away, and were drowned in the sound of the shrill whistle 
of the cars that bore off to Lexington the remains of our 
departed hero,* when, with hearts burdened with sorrow 
10* 



226 SUFFERINGS OF THE WOUNDED. 

almost too heavy for endurance, our attention was again 
called to the active duties of benevolence to the mutilated 
beings who had again so dearly purchased for us victory on 
the banks of the classic Eappahannock. The busy round 
of hospital duties again engrossed surgeons, stewards and 
nurses, paid and amateur. Our stock of delicacies by this 
time was nearly exhausted, and it required the exercise of 
the greatest skill and judgment to compound appetizing 
food for the invalid. Very fortunately for the condition of 
the Confederate larder, the vigorous appetite occasioned 
by the constant drain on the system from the suppu- 
ration of wounds, rendered the coarse and simple diet of 
the hospital grateful to the ever-hungry wounded men, and 
we were not pained to see a delicate appetite turn with nau- 
sea from the repulsive food served on the coarse tin plate, 
or from the miserable tea and coffee, sweetened with coarse 
brown sugar, and served in the dingy tin cup. 

" Never mind, this will do ; it is indeed very good," was 
almost constantly the grateful response to an apology for 
the poor and simple fare of the wounded, which our hearts 
were pained to be compelled to offer, and the cheerful sub- 
mission. to these unavoidable inconveniences was one of the 
most strikingly admirable traits of the Southern soldier. Not 
alone in the camp and on the field did his courage shine 
forth, but in the loathsome wards of the hospital, when 
under the most intense suffering, the patient endurance of 
racking pain and cruel privation displayed yet more actively 
this trait in his character. 

Many a woman's heart has been filled with grateful emo- 
tions, too great for utterance, as she bent over the couch of 
the sufferer, when her hand was grasped by the rough, hard- 
ened hand of the soldier, and his voice, husky with feeling- 
long suppressed, would break out with : " I thank you^— I 
can never forget you for this kindness ;" and many a soldier 
has gone out from the hosj)ital a better and braver man for 
the remembrance of the angel of mercy who made pleasant 
the couch of suffering by her gentle acts of kindness and love. 



SUFFEEINGS OF THE WOUNDED. 227 

We were at this time blessed witli a plentiful supply of 
ice, (gathered and housed with unusual care during the 
severe winter that had passed,) and to its use many a poor 
fellow owed his life. 

For more than two weeks after the battles on the Bappa- 
hannock, detachments of prisoners were sent into Kich- 
mond from day to day. These men presented striking con- 
trasts of temper and spirit, as they were marched through 
our streets. Many were sullen, morose, gloomy, and glanced 
with an angry scowl upon the spectators who assembled on 
the pavements, at the windows and on the porticoes to look 
at them. Many seemed humiliated, cowed and depressed, 
while others were buoyant and cheerful, and laughingly left 
the ranks to purchase papers, and occasionally a loaf of bread, 
with which to regale themselves on the march to the prison. 
These were frequently amused with the cry from the 
bystanders, " On to Eichmond, boys !" to which would be 
replied, in the Western or Yankee dialect : " I gi^ess we 
didn't think to come this route ;" or, " I guess we got here 
sooner than we thought ;" and not unfrequently we heard : 
" I guess I'm glad I am here, for I'm tired of fighting the 
Johnnies, anyhow." Their appearance was quite as dissim- 
ilar as their manner and expressions. The prisoners seemed 
to be gathered up from all the nations of Europe, with a very 
fair showing of Western men, and "a smart sprinkling " of 
down-easters. Some were well clad, but many w^ere bare- 
footed, ragged, and quite as miseral^le in appearance as the 
ragged rebels of Texas, who marched so cheerily through 
our streets. The most remarkable were the villainous look- 
ing Zouaves, with their fanciful costume, and countenances 
disfigured by long acquaintance with crime, in the reeking 
purlieus of New York or other cities of America or Europe. 

The reputation brought with them of infamy, desper- 
ation and degradation, elicited no sympathy for them 
in their painful condition of captivity. Yet, as before stated, 
though the wi'iter of these details has witnessed the pass- 
age of many thousands of prisoners of war through the 



228 SUFFERINGS OF THE WOUNDED. 

streets of Eichinond, and altliougli tlie minds of the people 
were keenly sensible of the immense endeavor to capture 
their city, with the prosjoect of being rendered homeless, 
she has yet to remember a single expression of hatred 
or reproach against the unfortunates taken captive by Con- 
federate arms. 

With the rejoicings over victory, in which grief for the 
dead was mingled in the strange incongruity that so fre- 
quently brings together joy and sorrow, our minds were not 
reheved of the heavy load of anxiety in regard to our military 
situation. The victory of ChanceUorsville was again a vic- 
tory barren of practical results. It was remarkable that in 
the changing fortunes of war, there had not yet on either 
side been secured a success which might be considered deci- 
sive, for at that time no entire army had been captured. 
But our hopes were brightening. Speculation was on the 
decrease in Kichmond, and the idea of a speedy termina- 
tion of our difficulties filled the pubhc mind for a time. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

THE FALL OF VICKSBUIIG ITS EFFECT. 

THE question of the fall of Vicksburg was now consid- 
ered by our enemies only one of time. From day to 
day, as reports reached us of a contradictory character, our 
hopes would rise and faU as the mercury in a barometer, yet 
were kept up to a healthy standard by the thought that the 
garrison was supplied v^ith provisions for six months, and 
although the siege was telling fearfully upon the brave men 
who stood in the intrenchments, yet they declared their 
willingness to die thare rather than give up the place; and 
we were also buoyed up with the thought that General John- 
ston could finally extricate Vicksburg from the hold of the 
invader. This was a most unhappy delusion to the unfor- 



THE FAIL OF VICKSEUEG. 229 

tunate garrison and a credulous public. Witli tlie Confed- 
erate authorities in Eichmond a singular correspondence 
originated in regard to tlie situation of Vicksburg, and Gen- 
eral Johnston was advised to movements that would have 
endangered his own army, which were by him left unat- 
tempted. General Kirby Smith, and General Dick Taylor, 
from the trans-Mississippi, sent troops to the assistance of 
General Pemberton, but all to no effect. The garrison was 
in a deplorable condition, constantly exposed to the shot and 
shell of the enemy, and if a man dared to raise his head above 
the breastworks he was immediately a target for hostile 
sharpshooters. Yet there is ho reason to doubt that the 
place was provisioned sufficiently to hold out much longer, 
and much suspicion attaches to the loyalty of General Pem- 
berton to the Confederate cause from the fact that he pre- 
pared himself on the third of July to surrender the city on 
the Fourth of July — the cherished anniversary of the decla- 
ration of American IndeiDcndence — a day peculiarly glorious 
to our enemies. 

The news to us in Kichmond was astounding; it was par 
alyzing, and at first accredited only as a sensation rumor 
got up by some shrewd sugar speculator. The authorities 
in Richmond maintained a sullen silence. But at last the 
unwelcome truth came out, naked, stark, appalling, and with 
the surrender went a force of more than twenty-three thous- 
and men, with three Major-Generals and nine Brigadiers, 
upwards of ninety pieces of artillery, and about forty thous- 
and small arms, throwing the Confederacy back upon its road 
to success, giving the key to the free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi into the power of our enemies, and throwing an alarm- 
ing preponderance of prisoners into their hands ! 

The sun of hope had receded many degrees on the good 
fortune of the Confederacy, and for the first time a prop was 
knocked from the fabric, which caused it indeed to totter. 

The public indignation against Pemberton was at first 
fearful, yet never did IMr. Davis defer to public opinion, and 
his fidehty to Pemberton was never modified. 



230 THE FALL OF VICKSBUEG. 

In connection witli the siege of Vicksburg many incidents 
of thrilling interest are related. The ai)ology given by Gen- 
eral Pemberton to the enraged public for the surrender of 
Vicksburg was, " to save further effusion of blood," and the 
explanation of his motives for yielding up the city on the 
Fourth of July to General Grant v^as the hope of concil- 
iating the ambition of Grant, and invoking the generosity 
of the Yankees. He says: "If it should be asked why 
the Fourth of July was selected as the day for the sur- 
render, the answer is obvious. I believed on that day I 
should obtain better terms. Well aware of the vanity of our 
foes, I knew they attached vast importance to the entrance 
on the Fourth of July into the stronghold of the great 
river, and that to gratify their native vanity, they would 
yield then what could not be expected of them at any other 
time." This miserable excuse increased the humiliation and 
disgrace of the surrender of Vicksburg. 

The conduct of some of the inhabitants was in many 
respects exceptionable. As in other cities of the South, there 
were those who rushed, through fear of further distress, to 
take the oath of allegiance, and the Jewish portion of the 
population, it was said, with one honorable exception, went 
forward and took it. 

These evidences of submission were rewarded at first with 
some show of leniency, to be followed by a tyrannical des- 
potism uiider the Dutch General Osterhaus — quite equal in 
its rigor to that exercised by Butler in New Orleans. 

About this time, as noticed in Pollard's History of the 
War, a Mississippi paper declared that it had no words of 
excuse or charity for the men who had remained in Vicks- 
burg, under the enemy's flag. To quote their own slang- 
dialect, 'The Confederacy was about gone up, and there 
was no use in following its fortunes any further.' But it 
repeated the characteristic stories of the conquered cities 
of the South. The spirit of the women of Vicksburg was 
unbroken, and amid all its shameful spectacles of subser- 
viency, female courage alone redeemed the sad story of a 
conquered city." 



THE FALL OF VICKSBUEG. 231 

From Captain W., tlie young Mississippiaii heretofore 
mentioned as being the soldier for whom a lady of Kich- 
mond braved the august presence of the Surgeon General to 
secure a furlough, we heard of many interesting circumstances 
connected with the siege of Vicksburg. For gallantry there 
he was promoted from the position of private to Ca^Dtain of 
Cavalry, and from time to time his promotion continued 
until he ranked as Brigadier-General, (but subsequently to 
his exchange.) 

He says: "I paid frequently two and a half dollars for 
rats for food, and. was glad to get them, for I assure you 
they are quite as nice as squirrels; but I never could bring 
myself to decide to dine upon mule-meat until I was 
deceived at dinner with General B., by the assurance that I 
was dining upon beef. I ate peas-bread. Oh, we lived very 
hard it is true, but there was no lack of provisions such as 
they were, and there was no excuse in that exi^lanation of 
Pemberton for surrendering Vicksburg when he did. Our 
men, some of them, caU him ' a traitor.'" In describing the 
spirit of some of the troops that occupied Vicksburg, he 
said, "I had a friend, (a lady,) sick, and rowed out of the 
city to a Yankee gun-boat to procure a lemon for her. On 
my return I was surrounded by a squad of low fellows, who 
took the bridle of my horse and demanded my horse, side- 
arms and watch. I explained, ' I am an officer, and by the 
terms of the parol, I am entitled to my horse and side-arms, 
and I shaU not surrender them.' "Whereupon they cursed me 
furiously, and then in the vilest manner commenced abusing 
the women of Vicksburg, and heaj)ing on them the most 
opprobrious epithets. One of them was particularly insulting. 
Rising in my stirrups, and drawing my revolver, I exclaimed, 
*I hate to kiU as mean a dog as you, but you'll have to- die,' 
and shot him through the head. As he fell the remaining 
five made threatening demonstrations, and I remarked, 'you 
can overpower me, but some more of you will have to die 
before I surrender myself to you, or am kiUed.' Thinking 
it quite as well to let me pass they loosened their hold on 



232 THE FALL OF VICKSBURG. 

tjie rein of my bridle, and I put spurs to my horse and gal- 
loj)ed into the city." He succeeded in making his escape 
but a price was set on his head for his arrest, and vengeance 
threatened him for shooting an enemy, (a robber,) while on 
parole. 

During the bombardment of the city many casualties are 
reported of citizens who ventured out of the pits dug for 
their safe retreat. Mrs. Keed, the wife of Major Eeed, of 
the Confederate army, ran out of the pit in which she lived 
during the bombardment, to secure her little child who, tired 
of restraint, eluded the vigilance of the mother, and made 
her way into the street. Terrified, the mother went to seek 
her child, and had just secured the mischievous little girl, 
and was returning to the pit, when a shell exj^loded near 
her, a fi-agment of which struck her on the arm and so man- 
gled it that amputation was deemed necessary, and she sub- 
mitted to the loss of her right arm. 

The injury to the city was incalculable, but scarcely to be 
considered in comparison with the moral effect upon the for- 
tunes of the Confederacy. Yet the press of the South made 
vigorous efforts to console the people, and represented the 
advantage which might accrue in using the armies there in 
co-operation with the defence of Vicksburg more effectively 
elsewhere. But it was impossible to close our eyes upon 
the painful consequences of the downfall of this hope of the 
Confederacy. 

The fall of Vicksburg was followed by the enemy's reoc- 
cupation of 3'ackson, the capitulation of Port Hudson, the 
evacuation of Yazoo Cit}^, and important events in Arkansas, 
which resulted in the retreat of our army from Little Kock 
and the surrender to the enemy of the important valley in 
which it was situated. 

As was the case after the fall of New Orleans, we were in Eich- 
mond made to feel at once some of the consequences of the 
disaster. Fortunate speculators who had on hand a good 
supply of sugar saw within their grasp immediate wealth, 
and many of the citizens from this time, from the high price 



lee's invasion of PENNSYLVANIA. 233 

to wliicli it was at once raised by these remorseless mercliants 
(who might be termed "vampires,' ) were compelled to 
retrench heavily in the use of sugar, or to give it up 
entirely. The speculation in gold, which had been dull 
with the brokers, and the sale of " gi'eenbacks," were busily 
resumed, and the evil to the many was made the source of 
riches to the few. 

From this time until the end of the war it was extremely 
rare to see a dessert at dinner which required the use of sugar ; 
and all delicacies compounded with the precious article, 
were abandoned almost entirely excejDt when needed for 
the sick. Yet for this there was never heard a murmur, 
and as with articles of luxury this needful condiment was 
used in the most sparing manner, or altogether abandoned, 
and still in a spirit of cheerfulness. 



CHAPTER XL VI. 



LEE S INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA EFFECT OF THE BATTLE OP 

GETTYSBURG. 

SIMULTANEOUSLY with the intelligence of the fall of 
Vicksburg, tidings reached us of a still more distressing 
character. We had been watching with intense solicitude 
the operations of the army of Northern Virginia. Un- 
bounded confidence was felt in the skill and judgment of 
General Lee, yet from the time of the battle of Chancellors- 
ville, the movements of his army awakened the keenest 
anxiety. Important changes had been effected in the rank- 
ing and disposition of the officers. General Ewell and Gen- 
eral A. P. Hill had been commissioned by the President as 
Lieutenant Generals, the former to command the corps left 
without a leader by the death of General Jackson, and the 
fondest hopes were entertained that with his mantle a double 
portion of Jackson's spirit might have fallen on his successor. 



234 LEE S INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Other promotions of inferior rank also took place. On the 
third of June General Lee began his onward movement. 
On the ninth occurred the cavalry fight between the Confed- 
erates under General Stuart and the Federals at Brandy Sta- 
tion, on the Alexandria Eailroad, in which the Federals were 
defeated. In this engagement, the regiment under Colonel 
Lennox was particularly distinguished. At the same time 
our forces were advanced to o^jerate in the lower portion of 
the Yalley, and on the fourteenth of June General Rhodes 
drove the enemy from Martinsburg, and took possession of 
the town. On the same day General EweU attacked and 
drove Milroy from "Winchester. 

The occupation of this town by the Confederates was 
attended with the wildest demonstrations of. delight from 
the citizens. They had long groaned under the yoke of cap- 
tivity, and the appearance of the Confederate troops was 
Hke the opening of the prison doors to the long imprisoned. 

It is said that as the Confederates came into the place, at 
every door and window were seen the figures of the ladies 
with handkerchiefs waving and tears of gratitude flowing in 
the unrestrained excess of joy. Loud calls were made upon 
General Ewell from his fair friends for a speech, but the brave 
old man pleasantly replied to them, " I can't make a sr)eech to 
ladies. Excuse me if you please, I never made a speech to 
but one lady in my life," and pointing to General Early, (an 
incorrigible old bachelor,) he continued, " My friend. Gen- 
eral Early can speak. He will address you, ladies." But the 
disconcerted bachelor, who it seems never made an effective 
speech to one lady, was dumb before his fair and grateful 
admirers, and was compelled to stammer out the unfortunate 
remark, " I can't speak to ladies — ^excuse me." This was to 
General Early a serious misfortune, for just at that time a 
speech from him to some fair lady might have redeemed 
him from the lonely, miserable estate of a bachelor, and 
there is recorded against him the result of a "lost opportu- 
nity." 

By a series of manoeuvres General Lee succeeded in free- 



lee's invasion of PENNSYLVANIA. 235 

ing that portion of Virginia from the invader. From the 
24th to the 30th of June he was engaged in crossing his 
army over the Potomac into Maryland and Pennsylvania. His 
progress had been effected with trifling opposition. General 
Hooker, satisfied, perhaps, with his essay at Chancellorsville, 
and cured of his boastful spirit, dechned a battle in Virginia. 
This hesitation cost him his command. Lee had been allowed 
to obtain important advantages, and had so disposed his 
forces as to be able to hurl them wherever he might desire. 
He was expected by Hooker to offer battle in Maryland, but 
finding himself disappointed in this, and smarting under 
the distrust of the authorities which had placed him in posi- 
tion, General Hooker in disgust relinquished his command, 
and was quietly "laid on the shelf" alongside of his unfor- 
tunate contemporaries who had aspired to the glory of con- 
quering the rebel army of Northern Virginia. The com- 
mand of the Federal army was now given to General George 
G. Meade, who, perceiving that General Lee had turned aside 
in his march through Pennsylvania, moved towards Cham- 
bersbiu'g to meet him. Th'e most intense excitement pre- 
vailed at the North. The sight of the horsemen of the 
Confederate cavalry who were scouring the southern region 
of Pennsylvania, dismayed them. Their Capitol at Harris- 
burg was threatened, and the sound of the trumpets of the 
rebels as they dashed between the Susquehanna and the 
AUeghanies, and along the region of the tributaries of the 
Potomac, awoke the most dire apprehensions in the minds of 
the frightened population. 

At the first news of the invasion, the President at Wash- 
ington called for a hundred thousand more troops. The 
Governor of Massachusetts tendered the services of the 
whole military strength of his State. Governor Seymour of 
New York, called into consultation General McClellan to 
advise in reference to measures of defence. Regiment 
after regiment was sent to reinforce the army of the 
Federals. Bells were rung in the different cities, and the 
alarm for the condition of Pennsylvania, and the conse^ 



236 lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. 

quent insecure condition of the States further North became 
universally contagious. The Dutch farmers of Pennsyl- 
vania drove their stock to the mountains, and every precaution 
was used which was counselled by their fears to secure their 
effects from capture by the foes who, were then in their midst 
The contrast between our situation and that of one year pre- 
vious was startlingly vivid. Then our capital was sur- 
rounded by the " Grand Army " of our enemy, knocking at 
our very doors, and threatening to overwhelm us. We had 
seen that army driven from our sight, defeated, disgraced. 
Another and another and still another commander had been 
compelled to retire before the invincible prowess of the 
unpretending, unostentatious leader of' the "rebel forces,'* 
and now, instead of " On to Eichmond," the cry was : 
" Washington is in danger ! Philadelphia is in danger !" and 
it could not be conjectured what would be the conse- 
quence of the onward progress of the army that had at one 
time awakened only the contempt of our haughty foes. 

Eemembering the desolation left behind him, wrought 
upon the soil of his own native State, it might be sup- 
posed that a spirit of retaliation would have possessed Gen- 
eral Lee, but he was superior to a warfare waged against non- 
combatants, and any depredation upon private property was 
expressly forbidden ; protection was given to citizens, and the 
destruction of subsistence never allowed. Where food was 
required, it was paid for in Confederate money — at first 
refused by the indignant inhabitants, but, to use the lan- 
guage of a soldier, " They were finally very careful in 
making the change." 

We are proud to know that not the slightest stain of per- 
mitted violence to the citizens of the enemy's country, from 
his soldiers, can ever attach to the pure and noble reputa- 
tion of our beloved Commander-in-Chief. We are proud to 
remember his admirable practice of the "Golden Rule" 
towards those whom, if they did not order, at least permitted 
deeds which degrade them from the high position of the 
soldier to the common murderer and marauder. We are 



lee's INYASION of PENNSYLVANIA. 237 

glad to know that wlien our army left Pennsylvania, there 
the name of "^ rebel " was not coupled by its women with all 
that is terrible. 

Whatever we -may have lost by the leniency of our noble 
commander, we have gained the happy consciousness that 
no blush of shame can ever mantle the cheeks of the reb- 
els for maltreatment of the innocent and helpless in the 
country they invaded. But his noble example was lost upon 
those with whom we were waging war, as the tales of sor- 
row, of horror, too well attest, when recited with trembling 
fearfulness by many of our Southern people, (need we say, 
our Southern women?) 

It is said by those who disajoproved of the course of leni- 
ency and politeness pursued by General Lee, that "he 
attempted the conciliation of a people who were httle capa- 
ble of it, but were always ready to take counsel of their 
fears." The effect of this moderate warfare on such a peo- 
ple was to irritate them without intimidating them — in fact, 
to compose their alarms and to dissuade them from what 
had been imagined as the horrors of invasion. In this 
respect his movement into Pennsylvania gave to the enemy 
a certain moral comfort, and encouraged the prosecution of 
the war." The same writer observes : " Such tenderness, 
the effect of a weak and strained chivahy, or more prob- 
ably that of deference to European opinion, is another of 
the many instances which the war has furnished of the sim- 
phcity and sentimental nature of the South." 

The position now occupied by General Lee had been 
secured with but little opposition. The rapid dispersion of 
the armies of the enemy on the route indicated plainly the 
moral reputation of the army under him. The whole of 
the Valley of Virginia had been in the possession of the 
enemy, and yet, from Culpepper Court-House, in Virginia, 
until he reached Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, he had 
encountered only trifiing opposition. He had carried his 
army across the mountains, along the valleys, and over the 
rivers, and made his way into the heart of the land of the 
enemy, to bo confronted by General Meade at Gettysburg. 



238 lee's inyasion of Pennsylvania. 

The hopes of the people of the South had risen to 
fever height. The thought of a speedy termination of the 
war was fostered, until peace seemed something tangible, 
and already within our grasp. To use the language of 
another : " In Kichmond, the garish story of the newspa- 
pers had prepared the public mind for a great victory. 
There was the renewed and feverish anticipation of an early 
peace. The elated public of the Confederate capital little 
imagined that in a few days events were to occur to turn 
back the war for years." Alas! the clouds were already 
hovering over us, surcharged with dreadful disasters, soon 
to burst, only to collect again, and never more entirely to 
be lifted. 

The action of the 1st of July was brought on by General 
Reynolds, who commanded the enemy '^s advance, and who* 
thought himself superior in force to the Confederates. He 
paid the penalty of his rashness by a defeat — ^was overpow- 
ered and outflanked, and fell mortally wounded on the field. 
The battle of this day was fought on the side of the Con- 
federates by General A. P. Hill's corps, General Ewell's and 
General Longstreet's, and resulted in the repulse of the 
Federals. They were driven back through the town of Get- 
tysburg, to a mountain, at the distance of half a mile, 
where they gained a commanding position, and there fortified. 

The fighting on Thursday, the 2d, was not resumed until 
late in the afternoon, after which time it is said to have 
been of the most stubborn and desperate character. The 
conflict was indecisive, but in the fight the Confederates lost 
a number of officers, among whom fell the brave and gal- 
lant Barksdale, from Mississippi. He perished where he 
had most anxiously desired to die — on the ensanguined field 
— declaring with his last breath that he was proud of the 
cause for which he was fighting, proud of the manner in 
which he received his death, and " confident that he beheved 
his countrymen invincible." 

In the account of the death of this brave man by our 
enemies, he was styled this " haughty rebel," and seemingly 



239 

witli fiendish, satisfaction they related his pleading for a cup 
of cold water, as a dying boon, and a stretcher from an am- 
bulance boy. 

The fighting of Friday, the 3d of July, was more fierce 
and bloody than on the preceding two days. The Federals 
occupied the heights, and from every crest cannon were 
planted, frowning down in grim array on the assailants. 
The charge of the Confederates upon these heights is said 
to have been of the most determined and irresistible char- 
acter ; but in the attempt they were cut down like grass 
before the reaper. In describing this scene, a Southern his- 
torian says : " But there was now to occur a scene of moral 
subhmity and heroism unequalled in the war. The storm- 
ing party was moved up, Pickett's division in advance, sup- 
ported on the right by Wilcox's brigade, and on the left by 
Heth's division, commanded by Pettigrew. With steady, 
measured tread the division of Pickett advanced upon 
the foe. Never did troops enter a fight in such splendid 
order. Their banners floated defiantly on the breeze as 
they passed across the plain. The flags which had 
waved amid the wild tempest of battle at Gaines's Mill, 
Frazer's Farm and Manassas, never rose more proudly. 
Kemper, with his gallant men, leads the right ; Garnett 
brings up the left; and the veteran Armistead, with his brave 
troops, moves forward in support. The distance is more 
than half a mile. As they advance, the enemy fire with 
great rapidity ; shell and solid shot give place to grape and 
canister ; the very earth quivers beneath the heavy roar ; 
wide gaps are made in this regiment and that brigade. The 
line moves onward, cannons roaring, grape and canister 
plung-ing and plowing through the ranks, bullets whizzing 
as thick as hail-stones in winter, and men falling as leaves 
fall in the blasts of autumn. 

" As Pickett got well under the enemy's fire, our batteries 
ceased firing, for want, it is said, of ammunition. It wa^ 
a fearful moment, and one in which was to be tested the 
pride and mettle of glorious Virginia. In the sheets of 



240 lee's intasion of Pennsylvania. 

artillery fire advanced the unbroken lines of Pickett's brave 
Virginians. They have reached the Emmettsburg road, and 
here they meet a severe fire from heavy masses of the ene- 
my's infantry, posted behind the stone fence, while their 
artillery, now free from the annoyance of our artillery, turn 
their whole fire uj)on this devoted band. Still they remain 
firm. Now again they advance. They reach the works ; 
the contest rages with intense fury ; men fight almost hand 
to hand ; the " Eed Cross " and the " Stars and Stripes " 
wave defiantly in close proximity. A Federal officer dashes 
forward in front of his shrinking column, and with flashing 
sword urges them to stand. General Pickett, seeing the 
splendid valor of his troops, moves among them as if court- 
ing death. The noble Garnett is dead, Armistead wounded, 
and the brave Kemper, hat in hand, still cheering on his 
men, falls from his horse. But Kemper and Armistead 
have already planted their banners in the enemy's works. 
The glad shout of victory is already heard. 

" But where is Pettigrew's division — where are the sup- 
ports ? The raw troops had faltered, and the gallant Petti- 
grew himself had been wounded in vain attempts to rally 
them. Alas! the victory was to be rehnquished again. 
Pickett is left alone to contend with the masses of the ene- 
my now pouring in upon him on every side. Now the 
enemy moved around strong flanking bodies of infantry, 
and are rapidly gaining Pickett's rear. The order is given 
to fall back, and our men commence the movement, dog- 
gedly contesting every inch of ground. The enemy press 
heavily on our retreating line, and many noble spirits, who 
had passed safely through the fiery ordeal of the advance 
and charge, now fell on the right and on the left. 

" This division of Virginia troops, small at first, with 
ranks now torn and shattered, most of the officers killed or 
wounded, no valor able to rescue victory from such a grasp, 
annihilation or capture inevitable, slowly, reluctantly fell 
back. It was not given to these few remaining brave men 
to accom23hsh human impossibilities. The enemy dared not 
follow them beyond their works. But the day was already lost." 



LEES INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA, 243 

Washington — and his recrossing the Potomac into Virginia 
stiJl remains unexplained, and the Confederate authorities 
are strongly suspected of directing it. Yet the hearts of 
great numbers were gladdened when the safe passage of the 
Potomac had been effected, and once more on our own soil 
we welcomed the army of Northern Virginia. 

"While our losses were severe and the gains by no means 
commensurate with them, yet the invasion of Maryland and 
Pennsylvania was not without advantages to the army and 
the State of Virginia. It withdrew the invading army from 
our soil for a time, and we were freed from depredations 
of and the constant drain upon our resources in feeding not 
only our own army but the foraging x^arties of the enemy. 

Our cavalry supplied their worn-out horses with the horses 
of the well-to-do Dutchmen that inhabited the regions 
scoured by them as they dashed through the country of the 
enemy, and the fat beeves, mutton and pork of the settlers 
of Pennsylvania were taken as pay for the losses sustained 
for more than two years in the stock of the farmers of Vir- 
ginia. It gave us an opportunity to harvest our wheat 
crop, and aU things considered we consoled ourselves with 
the gains of the invasion, with all the philosophy we could 
bring to our aid, yet we could not suppress the heart-sick- 
ening effect of the dire calamities which overtook us so sud- 
denly and unexpectedly. 

On the same day that we received intelhgence of the fall 
of Vicksburg, arrived the still more distressing tidings of the 
defeat of the array of Virginia at Gettysburg. " In twenty- 
four hours the two calamities had changed the entire aspect 
of the war, and had thrown the South from the exultation of 
hope to the brink of despair." 

; The invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania was the fruit- 
ful source of much amusing anecdote. Attached to the army 
of Northern Virginia were two ministers of the Methodist 
persuasion, one of whom doffed his clerical habits, donned 
the soldier's uniform and commanded a battalion to fight 
the battles of the Confederacy. His brother accompanied 



244: lee's niA'ASioN or Pennsylvania. 

a regiment as cliaplain. These two men, than whom there 
were not more ardent adherents to the cause of the Con- 
federacy in the South, were Pennsylvanians by birth, natives 
of Greencastle, a town through which our armies passed on 
their way to and from Gettysburg.^ The chaplain, in speak- 
ing of the invasion of his native State, was asked how he 
felt when passing through the village of his birthplace, and 
the scene of his boyhood and youth. He replied: 

" I felt that I was engaged in a holy cause, and that I 
was doing right; but," said he, "when we passed through on 
the advance of our army, I saw no one I had ever known. 
The doors and windows of the houses were closed against 
us, and no sign of notice was perceptible except from a 
few of the curious who wished to know what a ' rebel ' 
looked like. But on the retreat of our army the village was 
alive with the curious and triumphant spectators to witness 
the flight of the rebels. Now and then I would see an old 
acquaintance, perhaps a schoolfellow, who would lift his 
hands in astonishment and exclaim, ' Great God,* Charley 
B.! I never expected to see you in the rebel army!' 'In the 
rebel army? Why, man, every gentleman on this continent 
is in the rebel army,' I would reply. Amazement met me at 
every turn. My former friends had lost the history of me 
after the commencement of the war, and were under the 
impression I was pursuing the duties of the ministry quietly, 
and were not therefore prepared to see me in the Confed- 
erate uniform and doing battle against the place of my birth. 
I had an old aunt in the village, of whom I cherished the 
most tender memories, but rather feared the kind of re- 
ception I might meet, if I attempted to make myself known 
J to her; but I determined to run the risk. I rode up to her 
house. Remembrances of other days came over me, and 
my heart was heavy with strange forebodings as I crossed 
the threshold so familiar in the days of my boyhood. When 



* The identical language. 



lee's invasion of PENNSYLVANIA. 245 

announced, my old aunt met me, embraced me tenderly, 
and led me into her own apartment, wliere she very soon 
spread before me a collation of what appeared to my inex- 
perienced appetite, accustomed only to soldiers' fare, the 
most choice dainties. The cause of my singular appear- 
ance there at the time was not mentioned until I was 
about to depart, when my kind old aunt embraced me again, 
and said, ' God bless you, my boy, and God bless the cause for 
which you are fighting! I pray for your success! This is 
an unholy war waged against the South, and my heart has 
never favored coercion.' 

"I was much surprised, and thanked my kind relative for 
her generosity, and much overcome with emotion, I said 
good-bye to her. But a young lady, a cousin of mine, who 
lived with my aunt, foUowed me to the gate, and as she bade 

me good-bye and I mounted my horse, she said, ' C , I 

can ask the blessing of God on you individually, but cannot, 
like my aunt, ask for success on the cause in which you are 
engaged, for I do not consider it right.' 

« 'It is immaterial,' I repHed, / that you do not wish us suc- 
cess; we'U have it at any rate.' I kissed my pretty cousin, 
and rode on to rejoin my regiment." 

^He told of riding with a party of Confederate cavalry, 
to the farm-yard of a rich old Dutchman, who had m 
his stable one horse alone, but as fine an animal as he 
ever looked upon. A cavalryman dismounted from his 
worn-out steed, and taking off his saddle and bridle levied 
an attachment on the splendid horse of the old Dutch- 
man. He had cnly put on the saddle, and was about 
to mount the captured animal when the owner came 
out in the greatest agitation and distress, exclaiming, 
"Mein Gott! mein Gott! don't take mein horse, don't take 
-mein horse! Take anything else I've got, but leave me 
mein horse ! " And with tears in his eyes he implored thus 

piteously. ■, ■, - n 

The rebel cavalryman replied, coolly, " Must take him, old 

fellow; military necessity, mihtary necessity. See my worn- 



246 

out nag. You shall have that!" Finding his enemy unmoved 
by his distress, the j)oor old Dutchman cried, " Veil, vait ! 
veil, vait !" and running into his house he brought a bag of 
gold, counted out three hundred dollars in the bright yellow 
metal, and handing it to the rebel, he said, " Veil, take dish, 
but leave mein horse." " Oh, yes, I'll do that," replied the 
incorrigible rebel, and pocketing the gold, he transferred 
the saddle to his miserable hack, and left the farm-yard of 
the old Dutchman to seek a steed elsewhere. 

We were congratulating the good old Dutchman on the 
security of his favorite nag, and found our sympathies al- 
ready warmly enlisted in behalf of the old man, when the 
chaplain continued, " But the old Dutchman lost his horse 
at last. Another detachment of cavalry coming on, and see- 
ing the horse, which the old man had not time to secrete, laid 
violent hands on the animal, and that night it was tethered 
in our camp." 

" Too bad ! too bad !" we exclaimed. " An exchange is no 
robbery," persisted the chaplain. " For more than two 
years we have had to submit to such depredations, and they 
are the very least of what we have endured." 

He also told of compelling a native of that section to pilot 
our forces to certain ravines in the mountains, to which the 
horses and cattle had been carried for. security, and " where 
we captured more than a thousand horses, and an immense 
number of beeves and other stock." 

Our soldiers told amusing stories of the temper of the 
women in the section of country through which they 
passed. At first they were defiant, abusive and denun- 
ciatory, but grew amazingly pohte to the "Kebs," who 
paid little attention to the angry clamor of their female 
enemies. 

In the diary of an English officer in the Confederate 
army we notice : " I entered Chambersburg at 6 p. m. (on 
the 27th of July.) This is a town of some size and import- 
ance ; all its houses were shut up, but the natives were in 
the streets or at the upper windows, looking in a scowhng 



lee's invasion of pennsylvanl\. 247 

and bewildered manner on the Confederate troops who were 
marching gaily ]Dast to the tune of Dixie's Land. 

"The women (many of whom were pretty and well 
dressed) were particularly sour and disagreeable in their 
looks and remarks. I heard one of them say : ' Look at 
Pharaoh's army going to the Ked Sea.' Others were point- 
ing and laughing at Hood's ragged Jacks, who were passing 
at the time." 

He speaks frequently of a genial son of Israel, who was a 
most efficient commissary. His name was Moses, and Major 
Moses retahated with much apparent dehght upon the well- 
stocked farm-yards of the enemy through whose country 
he passed, for the depredations committed upon Virginians. 
On his route, he says : " Our bivouac being near a large 
tavern. General Longstreet had ordered supper there for 
himself and staff, but when we went to devour it, we dis- 
covered General McLaws and his officers rapidly finishing 
it. We, however, soon got more, the Pennsylvania proprie- 
tors being particularly anxious to propitiate the General, in 
hope that he would spare the hve stock which had been 
condemned to death by the ruthless Moses. 

"During supper, women came rushing in at intervals, say- 
ing : " Oh, good heavens! now they are killing our fat hogs. 
Which is the General— which is the great officer? Our milch 
cows are now going.' To all of which expressions Longstreet 
repUed, shaking his head in a melancholy manner : ' Yes, 
madam, it's very sad, very sad, and this sort of thing has been 
going on in Yirginia for more- than two years— very sad I' " 
But the saddest of aU reflections is that it should ever 
become necessary to settle disputes in a manner that brings 
in its train the multiform evils of war. All the glory which 
attaches to it seems but insignificant when brought into, 
comparison with the miseries it entails. Yet, strange para- 
dox! in the history of nations no people have ever yet 
attained enviable greatness who have not passed through 
the fiery yet purifying ordeal to national greatness and 
national purity. 



r 



248 THE SUMIMER OF 1863. 

CHAPTEE XLVn. 

THE SUMMER OF 1863 A WOMAN ARRESTED FOR TREASON. 

THE spirits of the people were deeply bowed down by 
defeat ; but terrible as were the disasters at "Vicksburg 
and Gettysburg, they were not sufficiently appalling to sub- 
due the courage and hope of the South. With a resilience 
as astonishing as admirable, rising superior to these depress- 
ing influences, a stronger sj)irit of resistance was manifested, 
and a more ardent determination to be free at any cost. 
This result of misfortune must have disabused the mind of 
the North of the idea that there remained in the South an 
element of Union sentiment sufficiently powerful to defeat 
the cause of the rebellion. There were murmurs against 
the administration, but as these complaints grew louder, 
more ardent devotion to the Confederacy was manifested, 
and an increase of the persevering self-sacrifice and admir- 
able self-abnegation which from the first had characterized 
the masses of the people. 

Doubtless many of these complaints had their origin in ima- 
ginations painfully sensitive or preternaturally vivid ; but it 
is true the public anger was not appeased by the continued 
fidelity and devotion of Mr. Davis to his special favorites. 
Pemberton had fallen under well-merited censure, and the 
patronage of our President was put in mortifying con- 
trast to his depreciation of General Price and others, who 
unfortunately lacked the valuable jorestige of training at 
West Point. To the graduates of that truly admirable 
institution Mr. Davis was thought to accord special at- 
tention. 

When the relative position of the Confederate President 
is rightly considered, we cannot conceive of one less desir- 
able, one of heavier responsibility, one in which an Execu- 
tive would be as little likely to be justly or gratefully appre- 
ciated, and while we concede the most indubitable faith in 
his patriotism, his loyalty to the cause for which he had 



THE SUMMER OF 1863. 249 

made stupendous sacrifices, and had brouglit into exercise 
the most remarkable and conscientious efforts of his Hfe, 
while we accord the most unfeigned admiration for the vir- 
tue and xDuritj of his morals, and the sublime and beautifuU 
simplicit}^ of his manner of life, we must also concede the 
right of a free people to demand of their Executive defer- 
ence to their wishes in acts of administrative character. ' 
Man, at best, is fallible. 

Whether Mr. Davis's disregard of the public wish was the 
result of the ordinary weaknesses of humanity, fostered by 
the flattery of those in temporary power, or of an obstinate 
confidence in his own judgment, in defiance of the cries of 
the multitude for the displacement of certain officers of the 
army and government, must be decided by the judgments 
and sympathies of the disinterested. — — — 

The summer of 1863 in Richmond was made memorable 
by the apprehension and arrest of the wife of a wealthy and 
respectable citizen, for treasonable correspondence with ene- 
mies of the Confederacy. The circumstances were of an 
aggravating character. She was the confidential friend and 
at that time the guest of the wife of a prominent Presbyte- 
rian minister, who was then absent in Europe on a benevo- 
lent mission for the Confederacy. Having the unsuspecting 
confidence of the family under his roof, she acquired the 
information disclosed in the intercepted correspondence, 
and basely suggested the plans and time for his arrest, as 
a person who, from his talents and influence, was danger- 
ous to the Union, and particularly useful to the Confederate 
cause. At the same time, a child of the minister was dying 
in the absence of his father, and in simulated sympathy 
with them in affliction the family were, deceived, and unsus- 
pectingly harbored an enemy whose treachery to them was • 
more fiendish than that to the government which she had 
affected to sustain by her sympathy, her wealth and her 
influence. The indignation against her was universal, and 
. Mr. Seddon, the Secretary of War, was made to share it, for 
the special direction given by him against her imprisonment 



250 POVERTY IN RICHMOND. 

in an ordinary prison. She was sent to an agTeeable and 
romantic confinement at tlie Infirmary of St. Francis de 
Sales. Her trial was postponed for six months, and her 
imprisonment in an institution of mercy was the pohte in- 
vention of the Confederate Secretary of War. 

This course was by no means popular among the women 
of the South when they remembered the treatment to which 
Mrs. Greenhow, Mrs. Baxley, Mrs. Phillips, and her daugh- 
ters, and numerous other females, (for the open and con- 
scientious avowal of principles held and expressed at the 
cost of their personal freedom,) had been subjected. Their 
unwarrantable and lawless imprisonment by our enemies 
was not forgotten. The lex talionis was very rarely enforced 
in the generous dealing of the Confederate authorities. It 
was something of which we heard much, but saw little in 
practice. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

POVERTY IN RICHMOND. 



AT this time our Eichmond workshops were turning out 
large supplies of valuable arms and weapons of warfare, 
and our Nitre Bureau was made effective in contributions of 
valuable ammunition. Wliile our financial interests were 
going to ruin, and our navy doing comparatively nothing 
for our assistance, our people were striving, by their own 
energies, and l^y the develoj)ment of their personal re- 
sources, to neutralize, as far as possible, the maladministra-' 
-tion of certain departments of the government, which, 
properly conducted, might have remedied many of the evils 
and inconveniences entailed upon us. "Wliile the men were 
in the field branches of female industry v^^ere faithfully 
attended to. We were carried back to the times of our 
grandmothers. 



POVERTY IN RICHMOND. 255 

now, though so late our experience, the reality seems almost 
incomprehensible. That " necessity is the mother of inven- 
tion," was fully exemplified in the South, in the exigencies 
which brought into use the most valuable of all inventive 
faculties — " How to live !" To exist in any sort of ease or 
comfort, no calculation could be made upon the amount of 
income in the continually and fearfully depreciating Con- 
federate currency. 

For more than a year previous to this peculiar period, 
there had not been any perceptible increase of crime. AYe 
heard of fewer instances of midnight villainies, our citizens 
walked the streets at night with less fear of garrotting and 
robbery, but gambling-houses abounded, and wickedness in 
a shape less evident — less palpable — but not the less un- 
questionable, existed in defiance of the rigor of military rule, 
and all law, civil and religious. 

We have in our possession an article taken from a Rich- 
mond newspaper about this time, which may serve to illus- 
trate to a certain extent, the contrast to the patriotic and 
self-sacrificing spirit that characterized the majority of the 
inhabitants. It is entitled the " Stranger's Guide," and 
contains the following : 

1. The very large number of houses on Main, and other streets, 
which have numbers painted in large gilt figures over the door, and illu- 
minated at night, are Faro Banks. The fact is not known to the 
public. 

2. The very large numbers of flashily-dressed young men, with villain- 
ous faces, who hang about the street corners in the day time, are not 
gamblers, garrotters and plugs, but young men studying for the minis- 
try, and therefore exempt from militia duty. This fact is not known 
to General Winder. 

3. The very large number of able-bodied, red-faced, beefy, brawny in- 
dividuals, who are engaged in mixing very bad liquors in the very large 
number of bar-rooms in the city, are not, as they appear to be, able to 
do military duty. They are consumptive invalids from the other side of 
the Potomac, who are recommended by the Surgeon General to keep in 
cheerful company, and take gentle exercise. For this reason only, they 
have gone into the liquor business. 

4. The very large number of men who frequent the very large number 



256 POVERTY IN rJCHMOND. 

of bar-rooms in the city, and pay from one to two dollars for drinks of 
very bad liquor, are not men of very large fortunes, but out-of-door 
patients of the hospitals, who are allowed so much a day for stimulants, 
or else they belong to that vciy common class of people who live noboby 
knows how. None of them are government clerks on small salaries 
with large board to pay. This fact is not known to the heads of depart- 
ments. 

5. The people of Eichmond have little or nothing to do with the gov- 
ernment of the city. Early in the war it was, for some reason, handed 
over to Maryland refugees, who were not thought fit for the army. 
Strangers stabbed, robbed, garrotted or drugged in Kichmond will not 
charge these little accidents to the people of Kichmond, but to the city 
of Baltimore. 

Tlie keen irony in these notes presents an inside view of 
Richmond on which a woman could not be permitted to 
look; but from many things that were whispered in the 
social circle, and from the very broad hints dropped in the 
newspapers, our imaginations were left to conceive that 
there were more things of daily occurrence in the Con- 
federate metropolis, than were " dreamt of in our philoso- 
phy." 

But all must be happy to know that the classes so strongly 
hinted at in these notes, did not represent the ruling class 
of the Richmond public. As intimated, they were generally 
found in the cosmopohtan population that crowded into 
the city during the war. 

It is rather unfair, however, to charge upon Baltimore 
exclusively, the grave sins hinted at in these sarcastic 
strictures. There was a lamentable importation of the 
rowdies of Baltimore; but willing coadjutors in vice are easily 
found, and Richmond was not entirely exempt from facile 
material. 

Congress passed an act, imposing a heavy fine and impris- 
onment on the keepers of gambling establishments, and yet 
in the search for the missing Federal Colonel Streight, who 
had escaped from the Libby Prison, the military pohce are 
said to have surprised certain persons of high positions, 
and in the attempt to escape, these gentlemen made exit 



BEAGG'S CAMPAIGN. 257 

through the trap-door of a gambling den, and took an airing 
on the roof of the building; greatly to the interest and 
amusement of the crowd assembled to witness the arrest of 
the escaped prisoner. This was a sad and singular com- 
mentary on the non-enforcement of law, and the demoral- 
ization of men in high places. However, with us, it ren- 
dered more brilliantly conspicuous the numerous excep- 
tional cases, the high and virtuous morality of those who, 
in the furnace of four years' bitter trial, passed through 
the fire unharmed, with not even the smell upon their gar- 
ments. 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 

BRAGg's campaign THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 

THE month of September, 1863, was full of painful in_ 
terest to the cause of the Confederacy. While we 
congratulated ourselves on the gallant defence of Charleston, 
our minds w^ere directed with no less interest to the theatre 
of war in Tennessee, upon the ill-starred soil of which the 
Confederate cause was ever destined to disaster. With the 
most intense anxiety we watched for the news from the Con- 
federate army under General Bragg, which was opposed by 
General Rosecrans, who had made in the commencement of 
the war a great reputation from his successes over General 
Lee, in the campaign in Western Virginia. This general was 
now to be tested in his generalship by one of the most ex- 
tensive movements in the West — the occupation of East Ten- 
nessee, • and a movement into the heart of the cotton States. 
We have before noticed that General Bragg's army had 
been weakened by the withdrawal of a portion of his forces 
to Mississippi to sustain General Pemberton at Vicksburg. 
The movement against Chattanooga, the principal point of 
strategic importance in this section of the Confederacy, was 
made by the enemy in two columns; Rosecrans advancing 
on Chattanooga, and Burnside on Knoxville. 



/ • 

258 ■ BKAGG'S CAMPAIGN. 

Tlie first engagement with tlie enemy in tliis campaign, 
occurred on the 9th of September, with Frazier's command 
of Buckner's Division, (at Cumberland Gap, in the moun- 
tains of East Tennessee,) which resulted in the disgraceful 
surrender of that important point, without the firing of a 
shot, at the demand of General Burnside. In his message 
to Congress, President Davis remarked of this, the most 
disgraceful occurrence of the war: "The country was pain- 
full}^ surprised by the intelligence that the officer in com- 
mand of Cumberland Gap had surrendered that important 
and easily defensible pass, without firing a shot, upon the 
summons of a force still beheved to have been inadequate 
to its reduction, and when reinforcements were within 
supporting distance, and had been ordered to his aid. 
The entire garrison, including the commander, being still 
held prisoners by the enemy, I am unable to suggest any 
explanation of this disaster, which laid open Eastern Ten- 
nessee and Southwestern Virginia to hostile operations, 
and broke the line of communication between the seat of 
government and Middle Tennessee." 

Various reports were in circulation explanatory of this 
affair, some of which reflected on the bravery and loyalty of • 
the men, and some gave the want of provisions as the apol- 
ogy; all of which were digproven by the correspondence 
of Major McDowell, of Frazier's command, with a newspa- 
per of Eichmond, for he declared that he never saw men in 
better spirits nor more anxious for a fight, and that when 
surrendered they had provisions sufficient for thirty days. 
This disgraceful episode in the war was the subject of a 
" nine days' wonder " in the Confederate capital. We were 
not willing to accredit the fact that without a single shot a 
place of importance had been given up. A feehng of in- 
tense disgust and indignation was expressed, and our hear- 
ing was sharpened for other tidings from the same section 
of the Confederacy. 

A few days brought us news of a victory gained by Gen- 
eral Bragg, at Chickamauga. These battles occurred on the 



THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 259 

19tli and 20tli of September. The Federal General Eose- 
crans, wlio was considered one of the most distinguished 
graduates of the West Point Military Academy, was de- 
feated, with the loss of eight thousand prisoners, fifty-one 
cannon, and fifteen thousand stand of small arms, abundant 
suppHes of ammunition, wagons, ambulances, teams, medi- 
cines, hospital stores, etc., in large quantities, and then 
driven back to Chattanooga. 

The victory, though a brilliant one, was purchased at a 
■fearful price to the Confederates. Bragg, in his official 
report of these engagements, makes the confession that on 
this "River of Death "he lost " two-fifths " of his troops. 
Our loss in general officers was conspicuous. Brigadier- 
Generals B. H. Helm, of Kentucky, Preston Smith and 
James Deshler had died on the field. General Hood, of 
Texas, whose bravery from the commencement of the war 
had been distinguished, was wounded so dangerously that 
he was compelled to submit to amputation of the thigh. 
His extraordinary gallantry on this occasion was made the 
subject of special notice by General Longstreet, in a letter 
to the government, characterized by a noble and generous 
ardor of praise, which obtained for the youthful General 
the commission of Lieutenant-General, and ranged him 
with the heroes of the war. 

But our success was only half accomphshed by the vic- 
tory at Chickamauga, so long as the enemy held possession 
of Chattanooga. The awkward pause of General Bragg is 
still unsatisfactorily explained to the public at the South, 
and his attempt to mend the matter by avowing his inten- 
tion to invest Chattanooga and starve the enemy out is con- 
sidered a lame apology for the unprecedented halt on the 
road to briUiant success, when his troops were flushed with 
victory and ready for deeds of courage that might have 
immortalized their commander. 

Among the general officers of Bragg's army there was a 
galaxy of the brightest names of the South. Generals 
Longstreet, Buckner, D. H. Hill, Polk, Hood, Breckinridge, 



260 THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 

Hardee, Hindman, Walker, Preston, Cleburne, Helm, Desh- 
ler, Pegram, Cheatham, Wheeler, Forrest, Kershaw, Eob- 
ertson and Humphreys were some of the men u^Don whom 
General Bragg could rely for successfully carrying forward 
the campaign of East Tennessee ; and when we are assured 
that the pause made after the victory of Chickamauga was 
with the disapproval and in defiance of the convictions of 
a majority of his officers, we are not at a loss to account 
for the rapidly waning popularity of the General in com- 
mand. 

The story of Chickamauga was burdened "by much recrim- 
ination between General Bragg and his officers, yet in the 
public mind there is no doubt upon whom rests the blame 
for the fruitless victory. \ 

The grave mistake here made, says another, "must stand, 
conspicuous among the fruitless victories gained by the 
Confederates, amid the least pardonable blunders and short- 
comings of history." It must even take precedence in mag- 
nitude of that at the famous battle of Bull Eun, when the 
pursuit of the routed enemy might have gained for the 
Confederates the coveted possession of the Federal seat of 
government, and would doubtless have changed the entire 
face of the war. Here" again, at Chickamauga, by the failure 
of a proper and vigorous pursuit of the enemy, were neu- 
tralized the most brilliant successes that ever crowned Con- 
federate arms. 

As a disciplinarian. General Bragg is thought not to have 
had a superior, if he had his equal, in the armies of the 
Confederacy ; but this fundamental element of skillful gen- 
eralship and soldierly character seems to have been indulged 
by General Bragg until it assumed the more rigorous form 
of tyranny over the troops in his command. With them he 
was unpopular. He is said to have required the strictest 
obedience to orders, and to have carried this princij^le so far 
that a soldier was condemned to be shot for killing a chick- 
en, in disobedience to a command forbidding the distur- 
bance of private property. While in the main, under the 



THE BATTLE OF CHIOKAMATJGA. 261 

rigid requiremenis of miUtary law, it would seem right to 
enforce such an order, it reflected unhappily upon the char- 
acter of the Confederate commander, and presented hun m 
an unfavorable contrast to the mild and magnanimous pohcy 
pursued by General Lee, General Beauregard and others m^, 

°"In™eBce to the miUtary prestige of General Bragg, 
we had long been accustomed to listen to stones of the war 
with Mexico, in which names that have become bnghte 
still from gi-eat and glorious deeds, were mterwoven, until 
im^ination elevated our heroes into somethmg more than 
mortal, and alongside of the mighty dead of our own and 
forei^m countries we would place those made famous on tne 
blool-stained soil of the nch country of the Monte— ^ 
Among the number was that of Captain Bragg, invested 
with tie glory which ever attaches to the hero of battle. 
"A little more gi-ape, Captain Bragg," has grown to a prov- 
ext in military parlance, attesting his skill as an artdlerist 
It the commencement of the late war our thoughts turned 
tpon him as one on whom we might rely with the utmos 
certainty; but as our troubles progressed, mstead of the 
"rompt ';<! ready fighter, the active and briBiant strategist 
which his reputation gained in Mexico warranted us m ex- 
pecting, we heard much more of him as the ngid disciphna- 
rian ^^nishing his men for offences in themselves vemaJ, 
Td' lainiBg for himself an unenviable reputation among . 
a people who delight in being generous, and would gladly 
hrieen indebted to him in the obliga^ ons of grateM 
hearts. However, ill luck in such a position as that filled 
bv General Bragg does much towards reveahng unfortunate 
" disagreements of character and dispositiom 



262 TEOUBLE WITH THE NEGROES. 

CHAPTER L. 

TKOUBLE WITH THE NEGROES. 

FROM pictures of battles and sieges, of carnage and 
strife, of victories and defeats, which make memorable 
the history of the autumn of 1863, we return to our capital 
to note the effect of good fortunes and misfortunes, as 
taken collectively, upon the si)irit and temper of the people. 

The idea of the final defeat of the cause for which we 
fought had not then possessed us, even in the faintest 
degree ; yet gloom pervaded our hearts. 

The fine weather, the bracing atmosphere, the delicious, 
dreamy influence of the beautiful Indian summer could not 
chase from our doors the dread phantom that lurked on the 
threshold — could not drive from the dark closet the skele- 
ton of the house. We felt, though we might not see the 
ghastly sight, nor stir the curtain folds to hear the awful 
rattling of the dry bones. Our spirits were heavy. The 
trail of war had drawn its red lines around our hearts, had 
made huge gaps in our home circles, had multiplied the 
vacant chairs around our hearthstones, had draped our 
forms in the solemn livery of the mourner, and had bowed 
us with anguish as we counted here and there one or more 
gone of those who had made life to us a long holiday. But 
our spirits were untamed ; the fierce trials to which we had 
been subjected served not to subdue, but to strengthen in 
us the desire and the determination to be free. 

On our streets the trickeries of trade, the unremittent 
pursuit of bargain and sale, were vigorously enacted. The 
red flag of the auctioneer hung out, and the exciting and 
fashionable scenes of the vendue entertained those whose 
selfish and avaricious propensities rendered them more 
intent upon the accumulation of wealth than upon the 
greater interests and good of the country. But in the 
quiet of home, in the private sanctuary, in the seclusion of 
retirement, in every place Vv^here the mind was given to 



TROUBLE Yy^ITH THE NEGEOES. 263 

thouglit and contemplation, the dread of tlie future pre- 
sented itself in characters unmistakable. 

Winter was approaching, our currency was fi'ightfuUy 
depreciating, (an old story) we were wholly at the mercy of 
avaricious speculators, (a story quite as old,) food was scarce, 
fuel was scarce, articles of clothing, run in through the 
blockade, were held at a figure that prevented many fi^om 
obtaining such as would shield them fi'om the severity of 
winter, and we saw no means of relief in the power of 
those in authority over us. 

Our soldiers in the field were insufficiently supphed with 
shoes and blankets, subsisting on the meanest and most 
scanty fare, and the prospect of peace was so far away in 
the dim future that in bitterness of anguish we turned our 
stricken hearts to God, and cried out again in the accents 
of woe, " Oh, Lord, how long, how long?" 

Our Congress met in December. In his message. Presi- 
dent Davis said: "We know that the only reliable hope for 
peace is in the vigor of our resistance." We stifled our 
complaints, we whispered to our fears the comforting tales 
of hope, and nerving our souls afresh for the contest 
of trial, suffering and death, we unflinchingly trod the 
bloody track, and looked to the inestimable prize of Liberty, 
the goal of Peace, conquered alone through our own en- 
deavors. 

About this time we were entertained with the proceedings 
of the trial for treason of the lady before mentioned. Much 
interest was manifested, summary punishment was spoken of 
by some, to be discountenanced by the majority, who only 
wished to see her placed beyond the reach of further mischief 
to the Confederacy. The evidence in the case was such as to 
divide the opinion of the jury, though amply sufficient to 
convict her in public opinion. She was held to bail for her 
reappearance at some future time, and retired to her luxurious 
home on James Eiver, above Richmond. After the evacua- 
tion of the city by the Confederate forces, IMrs. again 

appeared on the streets. Guilty or not guilty, let God 
alone judge. No one should be willing to be an execuLioner 



264: TROUBLE WITH THE NEGROES. 

on circumstantial evidence, yet against her, it appeared to 
admit of no donbt. She is said to have suffered much. 
The question is whether her suffering was from conscious 
guilt, or from unjust suspicions; if the former, the punish- 
ment could not well be too severe, if the latter, she was only 
treading the path of a martyr, and the consciousness of in- 
nocence must have converted her anguish into peace. Her 
reappearance in so short a time after the occupation of the 
city by Federal troops, was at least untimely, and argued 
but little for the native sensibility of a woman, or of grati- 
tude for a people who had regarded with clemency an 
offence of so foul a character as that with which she was 
charged. 

Domestic troubles of an irritating nature now arose to 
vex and annoy us. There was unquestionably an under- 
ground agency to decoy away our negro servants, or to 
assist any who meditated flight from their owners. Thefts 
of the most provoking character were everywhere perpe- 
trated, usually under circumstances which pointed to fam- 
ily domestics as the perpetrators. For everything stolen 
purchasers could be found among the low and depraved in 
questionable quarters of the city, and the extraordinary 
amount of money obtained in Confederate figures was a 
temptation to dishonesty, with those who did not under- 
stand the real value of the money in circulation. The store- 
room or pantry of a citizen, or a gentleman's or lady's 
wardrobe, would be plundered and the articles mysteriously 
disappear and all efforts of the police to discover the thief, 
or the destination of the missing goods, would generally 
prove unavailing, to be followed in a short time, by the 
singular disappearance of one or more of the domestics of 
the robbed establishment, to be heard of no more in Kich- 
mond. 

A lady who lived on Franklin Street, in one of the most 
fashionable and respectable quarters of the city, left her 
house to attend an early prayer-meeting at the church to 
which she was attached, and returned about eight o'clock 



TROUBLE WITH THE NEGEOES. 265 

A. M. to find two of her maids, reared, trained, and belong- 
ing to her, missing. Inquiries were made, detectives em- 
ployed, advertisements issued, rewards offered for their re- 
turn or apprehension, but no clue to the whereabouts of the 
absconding parties could ever be discovered. Nor was the 
loss of the negroes the only misfortune sustained by her. 
Upon a thorough examination into her wardrobe, linen 
closet, etc., she ascertained that she had been robbed of 
ladies' clothing of every quahty and description, bed-clothes 
to a large amount, upwards of sixty dollars in gold, as much 
perhaps in silver coin, and with these things had disap- 
peared several trunks which had been empty, without doiibt 
used by the cunning thieves for packing their stolen goods. 
Her losses were estimated at several thousand dollars, and 
many of the articles were of a description that could not be 
replaced in the Confederacy. These were confidential ser- 
vants, brought up in the house of their mistress, and well 
acquainted with the depositories of everything valuable that 
pertained to the establishment, and with the usual trustful- 
ness and want of suspicion of Southern character, it was 
an easy matter for them to hide away from time to time 
their petty thefts until the moment arrived fpr their escape, 
when they disappeared with their booty. 

The more effectually to carry out their plan of deception, 
they had professed to be seriously exercised on the vital 
subject of religion, and the unsuspecting mistress, much 
gratified at the disposition evinced by her maids, permitted 
them fvom day to day to go out, ostensibly to attend reli- 
gious meetings of the friends of their own race, but she 
had afterwards abundant reason to believe that these were 
only subterfuges invented by them and their guilty coadju- 
tors, the better to carry out their nefarious intentions. 

Instances of this kind were, at the time, of constant occur- 
rence. A lady accepted an invitation to dinner with a 
friend, and returned in a few hours to find her chamber 
robbed to the amount of seyeral thousand dollars, in monej, 
jewelry and clothing, by her body servant, to whom she had 
12 



266 TROUBLE WITH THE NEGROES. 

intrusted the management of her room. But so soon was 
the theft discovered, that the maid had not time to escape 
with her plunder, and a portion of it was discovered. As 
she was amenable to punishment, the mistress was com- 
pelled to give her up into the hands of the law, by which 
she was punished for the crime, and her escape thus pre- 
vented. 

We will mention one more incident in this connection. A 
member of • Congress from Tennessee — a man of wealth — 
brought his family with him to the capital. His wife, one 
of the most elegant and accomplished of the ladies of the 
SoHth, owned a servant in whom she placed implicit con- 
fidence, whose honesty and fidelity had been tested by years 
of trial, and on whom the mistress relied perfectly. She 
had been but a few weeks in Richmond, when her servant 
disappeared, and at the same time elegant and costly arti- 
cles belonging to her wardrobe, and diamonds valued at 
thirty thousand dollars! Detectives were employed to 
arrest her, advertisements and descriptions multipHed, but 
no tidings of the fugitive ever reached her quondam 
owners. 

It appeared to be an easy matter to elude the vigilance of 
the police, to £ank the pickets on the outworks of Rich- 
mond, and when once at the pontoon bridge, or when a con- 
venient boat was found at hand to convey them across to 
the Peninsula, then in the occupation of our enemies, all 
attempts to arrest these fugitives were in vain. 

We were compelled to keep up a rigid practice of barring 
and bolting and locking; yet all precautions proved ineffect- 
ual to prevent the thievish depredations of the negroes, 
demorahzed by the various contending influences which 
served to develop such propensities in them. 

However, when all things relative to our peculiar situation 
are considered, our troubles from the demoralization of the 
negroes were of a character less remarkable, and by far less 
annoying than could have been reasonably expected. 



CHRISTMAS, 1S64 — OPENING OF THE NEW YEAR, 267 

CHAPTEE L. 

CHKISTMAS, 1864 OPENING OF THE NEW YEAB. 

ANOTHER annual revolution in the cycle of time 
brought us again to the Christmas season, the third 
since the bloody cu'cle of war had been drawn round our 
hearts and homes. For days preceding the festival the 
anxious little ones, who had learned to share the cares and 
troubles of their elders, peered curiously into the counte- 
nances of mothers and fathers, for an intimation that good 
old Santa Klaus had not lost his bravery, and that 'despite 
the long continued storm of war, he would make his way 
through the fleet at Charleston or the blockading squadron 
at "Wilmington, and from foreign countries, or perchance 
across the counti'y from Baltimore, he would pick his way, 
flank the numerous pickets on the lines, and bring some- 
thing to drop in their new stockings, knitted by mother her- 
self. Sometimes the simple present that brought happi- 
ness to the child was purchased at the expense of some re- 
trenchment in the table-fare for a week, or with the loss 
of some needed article of comfort in clothing. But the 
influence of childhood is magical. The children find their 
way to our hearts, and unloose the purse-strings when all 
other inducements fail. 

The Christmas-box for the soldier in the field was not 
forgotten ; but it was less bountifully supplied than when 
first the Christmas dinner was despatched to him to be 
shared with his comrades in his soldier's tent. Santa 
Klaus once more generously dis]DOsed of socks and scarfs 
and visors, to the husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers in 
the army. 

In the Confederate Capital, the churches were always 
filled on this particular festival. On this day not the knee 
alone, but the heart was bowed, and fervent prayers were 



268 CHRisTiviAs, 1864 — opening of the new year. 

offered that no more should the Christmas sun dawn on 
our land deluged in blood, but that when Christmas came 
next the sun of peace might shed its light on hearts now 
breaking under the cruel oppression of remorseless war. 
The exercises at church were all that was left to remind us 
of Christmas as of yore. 

Could the vail have been uplifted that hid the privacy 
of home, and the Christmas dinner of Kichmond on this day 
have been exposed, we should have seen here and there, the 
fat turkey, the mince pie, the bowl of egg-nog and other 
creature comforts, which ordinarily abound on the tables of 
Virginia on this occasion; but generally, (and particularly 
among those who were reduced to keeping-rooms) if from 
the accumulating expenses of the times, the turkey could 
be afforded it was accompanied simply with potatoes 
and corn-bread, and this was the dinner for Christmas 
on the tables of many, with whom all the luxuries of our 
own and foreign climes had been in every-day use. But 
this could all have been borne bravely, cheerfully, heroically 
— it is almost too trifling to notice, had not the vacant place 
recalled the memory of one or more, whose bones were 
bleaching somewhere on the field made red with the min- 
gled blood of friend and foe. It was not the want of deli- 
cacies and luxuries that brought the tear to the eye of 
the mother, or heaved the father's bosom in a long-drawn 
sigh. 

When such a multitude of striking events are compressed 
into a brief space, time appears much longer, and of more 
importance than in the ordinary routine of every-day exist- 
ence. The years seemed now very long to us, and not the 
less that our hearts were burdened with present and prospec- 
tive sorrows consequent upon the time and place of our 
existence, and upon the mighty events which were daily 
occurring before our eyes — the most mighty, the most re- 
markable in the history of our country. We stood once 
more upon the threshold of a new year, and as the mind is 



• --3 

CHEISTMAS, 1864-OPENING^OI' THE NEW YEAR 269 

prone to run forward, and wonder, and anticipate, and peer 
into the misty mazes of dim futurity, and longs to draw 
as de the veirthat hides coming events from present scru- 
tiny more thau ever at this time, when the fature held 
within its remorseless grasp, the destiny of our mfant nat on 
lur spirits grew restive and impatient, and we would fam 
h"eTpurre! on the fiery coursers that drew the chariot of , 
time, to take us to the goal more speedily. _ 

Th-^ New Year with us was celebrated by the maugu- 
ration of another incumbent of the gubernatorial chair. 

Governor Letcher-Honest Johu-whose courage, whose 
paSotism, whose loyalty had stood the test of W ^^^l. 
and whose integrity had been weighed m the balances and 
Tot Lnd wanting: resigned ^^e Mm of state to anothe. 
The gubernatorial mantle feU on the shoulders of an old and 
tried friend of Virginia, an old "war-horse of the South 
So t the field as well as in the forum, in the chair of 
late Z weU as in the councils of the nation, had proved 
SmseU worthy of the honor conferred upon him by his 
feUow cirizens of the commonwealth of the dear Old Domm- 
f GeneTal and Ex-Governor Smith, who had obtained in 
Zj life the sobriquet of Extra Billy, was agam xnaugu- 
rZ Governor of Yirginia. He had the confidence o the 
people which was increased by the brave and patriotic ad 
Se£ Llhvered on this occasion. In Virginia the people 
tre not divided by party spirit, and happdy demagogue 
i.:n was ahnost whoUy unknown. The best "^^ * ""^ ^ 
position the one who would most truly and imparaally sup 
Tort and sustain the cause of the South, was the one who 
qponred the suffrages of the people. 

The terms Whig and Democrat. Federalist and Bepubli- 
can we eXost ulheard; but the terms Unionist and Seces- 
TnM were those that came into competition, where there 
was any competition at the South; « with us a Unionist 
was a comparative nonentity, and in the uncuvided feehng 
there were no bickerings of politics or party strife. 



3 

270 CHRISTMAS, 1864 — OPENING OF THE NEW YEAR. 

We had still very few places of public amusement. The 
Richmond Theatre had been rebuilt, and the indefatigable 
manager, Mr. Ogden, used praiseworthy exertions to render 
it attractive. The stock company, however, ranked in talent 
below mediocrity. No stars of brilliant histrionic lustre 
loomed out on the Confederate firmament, and none were 
imported. 

Our social gatherings during this winter were much more 
frequent than those of the two previous winters. They were, 
however, distinguished for their extreme simplicity. There 
existed in Richmond, among the young people of the best 
class of society, a club known as the " Starvation Club,'* 
which weekly, or semi-weekly, assembled at different houses 
in the city for social enjoyment. Money' was contributed 
amongst them in payment for the music required for dancing; 
but all refreshments were strictly forbidden, and the only 
expense to the generous host, whose house might be 
impressed for the novel reception of the " Starvation Club," 
was an extra fire in the rear parlor, then not in every-day 
use, from the scarcity and high price of fuel. These enter- 
tainments were varied occasionally by the performance of 
plays and tableaux vivants, in which considerable talent was 
exhibited in the histrionic art by some of the quickly cre- 
ated actors and actresses. This introduction of plays and 
tableaux added an exquisitely charming variety to the win- 
ter's social enjoyment in the rebel capital. Mrs. De S , 

Mrs. C. and Miss C , (the latter a charming little belle,) 

were particularly distinguished for the ready talent displayed 
by them.* 



* Miss C. is well known in the literary circles of Riclmaond as Refugita, and over this 
nom de pltime has written some very touching and beautiful romances, some of which 
found publication in The Richmond Illustrated News and in the Magnolia, the princi- 
pal mediums in Richmond for the pubhcation of such Uterary efforts. 



CONEEDEBATE CURRENCY. 271 

CHAPTEE LH. 

CONDFEDERATE CURRENCY FABULOUS PRICES IN RICHMOND. 

OUR chief interest was now centred on the promised 
redemption of the currency, which had accumulated 
and depreciated until its nominal value was not more than 
four cents in the dollar. We were told of various schemes 
to bring our paper money U]) to a specie value, all of which 
fell through, and the redemption of the currency at last 
resulted in the repudiation of one-third of the money in 
circulation, the remaining two-thirds to be secured in Con- 
federate bonds bearing four per cent, interest; the old issue 
to be withdrawn by the 1st of April in the parts of the 
Confederacy east of the Mississippi, and by the 1st of June 
in "the Trans-Mississippi department. This extended to all 
notes over the denomination of five dollars until the 1st 
of May, and to all five-dollar bills after that time, subjecting 
all Confederate bills from five dollars and upwards to a dis- 
count of thirty-three and one-third cents. 

This law increased instead of relieving us from the oppres- 
sion under which we were already groaning. Confidence 
in the circulating medium, was weakened. For articles 
of food, medicines, and all needful clothing, our money was 
taken at the prescribed discount, and the prices increased 
in this manner continued, nevertheless, to increase after 
the new issue of the Confederate Treasury was in circu- 
lation. It seemed to drive from us many of the tribe of 
Israel, who had battened and fattened upon speculation to 
the misery of the population of Richmond generally. They 
sold out their wares, converted their money into gold, and 
left for parts unknown, some of them to be arrested 
by the pickets on the lines of one or the other army 
in their attempts to run the blockade, to be fleeced of 
their gold, and sent on their way, not rejoicing but miser- 
able. 



272 CONFEDERATE CURRENCY. 

There was one who liad kept a jewelry store, in whicli 
lie displayed goods of the finest order — diamonds and rubies, 
pearls and precious stones of rare value, gold watches of 
sj^lendid workmanship, and other equally rich and valuable 
articles. But finding it prudent to husband his riches while 
he had time for it, he advertised his goods and sold them. 
He had, for more than two weeks previously, advertised 
his household furniture, (which was of a style and richness 
that was altogether creditable to his taste,) in a manner 
that was i^eculiarly noticeable from its imposing length and 
style, in a city where rich furniture was at the time rarely 
or never offered for sale. His house w^as quite low down 
on Main street. For several days before the sale took place, 
it was thronged with visitors to examine the elegant furni- 
ture, and on the day of the auction a crowd filled the rooms. 
The most ridiculous, the most fabulous prices were paid for 
certain articles, and the scenes of this sale reminded one of 
the Toodles, said a Eichmond paper. But some of our 
people had superfluous amounts of Confederate money, and 
they were glad to invest it in his curtains, sofas, plate, etc. 

To elude susj)icion, these ancient people usually pretended 
they were going to Europe — ^back again to Germany — where 
they figured as alien friends, and not as alien enemies, and 
thus prevented the confiscation of propert}^ left behind 
in the Confederacy. But generally they found Germany, 
on this side of the water, for New York became a " city of 
refuge " for the Jews from the South while the war lasted. 
These poor wanderers, claiming no distinctive nationality, 
finding nowhere rest for the soles of their feet, seem happy 
and contented at any place where they can accumulate 
riches, and show singular talent and wisdom in amassing 
of wealth even under the most discouraging circumstances. 
In Eichmond the road to its accomplishment appeared easy 
to some, while others, were suffering from extreme penury. 

We sometimes hear of those who did not "feel the war." 
Situated as we were, we could not exactly understand w^hat 
the idea imported. If not in fortune at least, in the more 



COKFEDEEATE CUBEENCY. ^io 

delicate and refined sensibilities of our nature, in the loss 
and absence of dear fiiends, in the constant anxiety for the 
probable fate of our country, surely every Southern person 
must have " felt the war." There was no one so obscure or 
humble, so far remote in the wilds and mountain fastnesses 
of our country, but that he shared in the common distress, 
and there was no table so bountifully supphed, no ward- 
robe so faultlessly elegant in its appointments, that did not 
show the effect of the war. If within our homes we had 
comforts and elegances, we had only to step out on our 
streets to meet here a soldier with one leg, there one mth 
one arm, another who had lost an eye, another with hor- 
rid scar, that told a tale of battle ; or on our passage 
through a certain quarter of our city where goYernment 
work was given out to the indigent, we would see hundreds 
of poor women in waiting for the coarse sewing from which 
they earned the pittance that saved them from hunger ; or 
we might pass government offices and see numbers of the 
most refined and elegant daughters of former ease and lux- 
ury, accustomed from their birth to seek only their own 
enjoyment, indaily toil at the desk of clerk, by which 
they earned a livelihood. 

If feehno- was not dead within the soul, if the sensibili- 
ties were not benumbed by extraneous influences, there was 
BO one in our Southern land who did not "feel the war. 
And while this was our situation, while an air of the deep- 
est seriousness pervaded our capital, while with every 
breath we inhaled the vapors of war-in the news that came 
to us through the blockade fi^om the seat of the rival 
government we heard of baUs and brilHant receptions, ot 
■ fashion and show, extravagance and plenty; and we took 
these things to heart, and pondered and meditated, and 
eao-erly looked forward to the end which should decide 
whether the greater strength lay in moral courage-the 
force of human will and virtuous endeavor— or m the mere 
maiority of numbers. We Hfted oui' hearts to God, and 
prayed in the depths of our spirit, and asked His aU-pow- 



274 THE CONFEDEEATE CONGRESS. 

erful help in our weakness ; but we rarely said : " Thy will, 
not ours, oh Lord, be done!" Perhaps therein lay our 
fault. 



CHAPTER LHI 

THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS IN THE WINTER OF 18G3-4. 

DURING the winter of 1863-4, the military operations 
of the Confederates were eminently successful. On 
the 30th of January an expedition underta^ken by General 
Rosser, in' the Valley of Virginia, was brilliantly successful. 
The details are full of interesting incident, but cannot here 
be noticed. 

On the 1st of February General Pickett undertook an 
expedition against Newbern, North CaroHna, which resulted 
in the destruction of the " Underwriter," one of the largest 
and best of the Federal gunboats in the Sounds. 

On the 11th occurred the affair at Johns Island, in the 
vicinity of Charleston, disturbing the monotony of the 
attempts on that city. On the same day the Federals were 
repulsed by the Confederates under General Wise — break- 
ing in confusion and leaving some of their dead. But the 
most important of the active engagements of the winter 
was at Ocean Pond, in Florida, v/here the Federals, under 
General Seymour, were dispersed and badly defeated by the 
Confederates, under General Finnegan. 

General Sherman's expedition in the Southwest — a part 
of the grand combination of Grant in the West, in co-ope- 
ration with a naval expedition from New Orleans against 
Mobile — was a stupendous failure. Thomas's advance on At- 
lanta was suddenly checked, and he was compelled to fall 
back upon his base at Chickamauga. As says another : " The 
* On to Atlanta ' was a programme, all parts of which had 
been disconcerted, and to amend which the campaign in the 
West had to be put over until the fighting month of May." 



THE CONFEDEEATE CONGBESS. 275 

Witii this digression we return to Eiclimond, to give 
a i^assing notice to the actions of the Confederate Con- 
gress during the session of this winter. In the early part 
of the session, the Senate was interested in discussing the 
right of the President to remove or appoint certain officers 
pertaining to the mihtary department of the government. 
This arose from the removal of Quartermaster-General 
Myers, who had been considered one of the most prudent, 
sagacious and efficient officers under the government, and 
the appointment of General Lawton, to whom no objection 
could be urged, save that he was used to supersede Colonel 
Myers, whose conduct of the affairs under his supervision 
had been singularly free from mistakes. The discussion was 
excited, and often bitterly acrimonious, and gave rise to 
some unpleasant on dits of a personal character. In his 
action, however, the President w^as sustained, and the gos- 
sip circulated in the capital was silenced, unequivocally, by 
the Senatorial voice. ' 

The effort of Congress to increase the conscription met 
with the hearty approval of the pubhc, and was by no means 
considered unjust or oppressive, as it served to keep in 
course of instruction an army of reserves, of youths from 
sixteen to eighteen years of age, which could be sent in to 
reinforce the army depleted by death, or to meet the 
demands for more troops, occasioned by the continual and 
heavy reinforcement of the army of the enemy. But the 
suspension of the writ of habeas coiyus, as passed under 
an enactment of our Congress, was considered unjustifiable, 
intolerable and tyrannical, though its enforcement was qual- 
ified by a stringent bill of particulars. A waiter says : 
" But what can be most said to wipe from the record of the 
Confederacy the stain of this • infamous act is, that it was 
never put into practice. It was not put into practice for 
the simple reason that there was no occasion for it. No one 
doubted the integrity and patriotism of our judiciary ; that 
branch of the government was practically permitted to con- 
tinue its dispensations of law and justice, and the worst 



276 dahlgeen's raid aeound eichmond. 

that can be said of the law suspending the habeas corpus 
was that it was a stain upon our poHtical history. It was 
an uncalled-for libel on the Confederacy ; but although it 
might blacken our reputation, yet it is a satisfaction to know 
that it did not practically affect our system of liberties." 
The v/riter proceeds : " In contrasting the poHtical systems 
of the North and South in this war, we find an invariable 
superiority in the latter with respect to all questions of civil 
liberty. This, indeed, is to be taken as the mosb striking 
and significant moral phenomenon of the war." These 
questions, together with the more important and absorbing 
matters of finance, were the burden of Congressional duties 
for this session. 

The winter was waning. The increased depression and 
anxieiy consequent upon the increase of suffering and pri- 
vation from the severe cold and dreariness of the season, 
were lightened in a measure in prospect of the bright, warm 
weather which would soon mantle the* earth with the beauty 
and fragrance of spring. Our military successes, also, 
served to lift the gloom that rested on our hearts in the 
early days of winter. But we were on the eve of being vic- 
timized by a fiendish attempt at the destruction of our city, 
that must vie, in the horror of its details, with the most 
cruel arts of warfare practiced in the darkest ages. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

dahlgeen's eaid around eichmond. 

ON the 28th of February, a raid was undertaken towards 
Eichmond by the Federal cavalry under General Kil- 
patrick, seconded in command by Colonel UMc Dahlgren, 
a son of Admiral Dahlgren, of Charleston notoriety. 

After reaching Beaver Dam, a station on the Virginia Central 
Railroad, in Hanover County, the force divided, Xilpatrick 



277 

with his command passing tlirongli the upper part of Han- 
over and Louisa, where he took a road that led to the 
Brooke turnpike, leading immediately into Eichmond. 
Dahlgren's command proceeded at once to Frederick Hall, 
in Louisa County, where they captured several of our officers, 
who were engaged in holding a Court Martial, among whom 
was Captain Dement, of a Baltimore battery, whom they 
compelled to follow the expedition. 

After tearing up the railroad for some distance, Dahl- 
gren proceeded towards James Eiver, which he struck in 
Goochland County. Here he burnt a gTist-mill, some barns, 
some locks on the canal, and did other trifling damage. His 
men, in the meantime, were allowed to amuse themselves by 
destroying furniture, pilfering plate, and doing other mis- 
chief to the farm-houses in the vicinity. His purpose was 
to cross the James River, and get into Richmond by the 
south side; and to accomplish this he employed a negro to 
guide him to a ford in the river, and for this service paid 
him what the black supposed to be a five-dollar note, but 
which in fact proved to be only a barber's advertisement, 
gotten up in the ingenious fashion common at the North. 
The negTO conducted Dahlgren to a ford, but finding the 
water too high to cross, he turned upon the helpless guide 
and ordered him to be instantly hanged, and to expedite 
this horrible deed he furnished a rein from his own bridle 
for the purpose. 

Finding that he could not cross, he sought to make a 
junction with Kilpatrick, but in the meantime all other parts 
of the expedition had failed. The part under the command 
of General Custer, which had moved towards Charlottesville, 
intended merely to distract attention, had suffered disaster. 
A portion of Stuart's horse artillery, under Colonel Beck- 
ham, stationed at Rio Mills, in Albemarle County, opened 
upon the advancing column, and drove them into rapid 
retreat, which was not abandoned until they reached their 
infantry supports at Madison Court House. 

A cowardice not less ridiculous was manifested by Kilpat- 



278 dahlgren's raid aeound Richmond. 

rick in the part of the expedition intrusted to, or assumed 
by him. He had reached the outer line of the fortifications 
around Richmond a httle after ten o'clock on the morning of 
the first of March. A desultory fire was kejDt. up for several 
hours, in which the enemy, who had set out with the in- 
tention of making a desperate inroad into Richmond, never 
got within sight of the artillery of the Confederates, and, 
contented to boast of ha\dng got within sight of the 
spii^es of the rebel capital, they retired in the direction of 
the Peninsula. 

UnaiDprised of the cowardly flight of his coadjutor, on the 
night of the 1st of March, Dahlgren, with some seven or 
eight hundred horsemen, pursued his way towards Richmond, 
following the Westham plank road until within a few miles 
of the city. But a still greater exhibition of cowardice was 
reserved for him than had been manifested even by Custer 
or Kilpatrick. 

All that intervened in the darkness of the night between 
Dahlgren and Richmond, between the remorseless enemy 
and the revenge he had threatened to visit with dire destruc- 
tion, fire and blood, upon the devoted capital of the South- 
ern Confederacy, was a force of Local Defence, composed of 
artisans from the Richmond armory, and a battalion of clerks 
from the different government departments, many of whom 
were young boys. But this was the force to give Dahl- 
gren's "braves" a lesson for their temerity. 

The Armory battalion were on the enemy's flank, and are 
reported to have been surprised. But when they came in 
contact with Henly's battaUon, (the , clerks,) the well- 
appointed cavalry of the enemy, which had started with 
such grand expectations, broke at the first fire. A single 
volley of musketry seems to have been quite sufficient for 
the completion of all the disaster that occurred, and to have 
finished the business. Eleven of Dahlgren's Yankees were 
killed, and thirty or forty wounded, while the rest scattered 
in shameful flight. 

Some prisoners were then captured, fi'om the persons of 



DAHLGEENS KAID AROHND EICHMOND. 279 

whom, wlien brouglit into Eiclimond, were taken silver egg- 
cups, sjpoons, forks, and other articles of plate marked with 
the initials of families whose houses, they had robbed in 
Goochland County. 

After his disgraceful defeat, Dahlgren appeared only 
intent upon his retreat. He divided his forces so as to facil- 
itate their escape, and the command of which he took charge 
moved down the south bank of the Pamunky River, and 
proceeded by the most direct route through King William 
County to Aylett on the Mattaponi, watched at every turn 
by scouts detached from Lee's Rangers. 

Lieutenant James Pollard, of this command, who had 
chanced to notice on a newspaper bulletin the direction of 
Dahlgren's retreat, declared that he would make him "pay 
toll" on the route, and hastened to intercept him. 

While Dahlgren and his party of fugitives, with sinking 
spirits and cowardly caution j)roceeded on the road to Walk- 
erton in King and Queen County, Lieutenant Pollard, with 
reinforcements from Captain Fox, of the Fifth Virginia 
cavalry of Lee's Rangers, and some members of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Robins's cavalry, continued to press them in the front 
and rear, and by a rapid circuit they succeeded, when the 
night came on, in getting ahead of him, and awaited his 
approach in the darkness. To insure his position, Dahl- 
gren required Captain Dement, the Confederate officer 
taken at Frederick's Hall, to ride by his side. Seeing in the 
darkness some figures ahead of him, and supposing they 
were rebel scouts, he shouted, " Surrender!" It was a fatal 
moment for him. " Fire !" was returned, and the darkness 
was lighted by a volley of Confederate musketry. It was 
enough. Dahlgren fell, pierced by two bullets in the head, 
two through the body, and one through the hand. The 
woods were filled with the fugitives, who implored the Con- 
federates to accept their surrender. Captain Dement was 
miraculously preserved. His horse was shot under him, but 
he himself escaped unhurt. The remnant of Dahlgren's force 
taken at this time was one hundred and fifty negroes and Yan- 
kees. Thus ended Dahlgren's raid around Richmond. 



280 dahlgren's raid around Richmond. 

On the body of tliis leader was found remarkable docu- 
mentary evidence, proving the intention of the expedition 
and the horrors from which we had been so providentially 
preserved — escape from which was made the subject of pub- 
lic thanksgiving in our churches. 

The following address to the officers and men of the com- 
mand was written on a sheet of paper, having in printed 
letters on the upper corner, " Head-Quarters Third Division 
Cavalry Corps, , 1864;" 

"OincEEs AND men: 

" You have been selected from brigades and regiments as a picked 
command to attempt a desperate undertaking — an undertaking whicb if 
successful will write your names on the hearts of your countrymen in 
letters that can never be erased, and which will cause the prayers of your 
fellow soldiers, now confined in loathsome prisons, to follow you and 
yours wherever you may go. 

" We hope to release the prisoners from Belle Island first, and having 
seen them fairly started, we will cress James Elver into Richmond, 
destroying the bridges after us, and exhorting the released prisoners to 
destroy and burn the hateful city; and do not allow the rebel leader, 
Davis, and his traitorous crew to escape. The prisoners must render 
great assistance, as you cannot leave your ranks too far, or become too 
much scattered, or you will be lost. 

"Do not allow any personal gain to lead you off, which would only 
bring you to an ignominious death at the hands of citizens. Keep weU 
together and obey orders strictly, and all will be well; and on no account 
scatter too far, for in union there is strength. 

"With strict obedience to orders, and fearlessness in the execution, 
you will be sure to succeed. 

" We wUl join the main force on the other side of the city, or perhaps 
meet them inside. 

" Many of you will fall, but if there is any man here not willing to sac- 
rifice his hfe in such a great and glorious undertaking, or who does not 
feel capable of meeting the enemy in such a desperate fight as will follow, 
let him step out, and he may go hence to the arms of his sweetheart and 
read of the braves who swept through the city of Richmond. 

" We want no man who cannot feel sure of success in such a cause. 
• ' ' We will have a desperate fight, but stand up to it when it does come, 
and all wiU be weU. 

" Ask the blessing of the Almighty, and do not fear the enemy. 

U. Dahlgeen, 
Colonel Commanding. " 



DAHLGREn's raid around RICHMOND. 2 SI 

The foUowing special orders, written on cletaclied slips of 
paper, disclosed the plans of the leaders of this murderous 
expedition. 

"Guides, Pioneers, (with oakum, turpentine and torpedoes;) Signal 
Officers, Quarter-master, Commissary, Scout and Pickets, men in rebel 
uniform : 

These will remain on the north bank, and move down with the force 
on the south bank, not getting ahead of them; and if the communication 
can be kept up without giving alarm, it must be done; but everything 
depends upon a surpeise, and no one must be allowed to pass ahead of 
the column. Information must be gathered in regard to the crossings of 
the river, so that should we be repulsed on the south side, we wiU know 
where to recross at the nearest point. All 7nills must be burned and the 
canal destroyed, and also everything which can be used by the rebels, 
must be destroyed, including the boats on the river. Should a ferry- 
boat be seized and can be worked have it moved down. Keep the force 
on the south side posted of any important movements of the enemy, and 
in case of danger, some of the scouts must swim the river, and bring us 
information. As we approach the city the party must take great care 
that they do not go ahead of the other party on the south side, and must 
conceal themselves and watch our movements. We will try and secure 
the bridge to the city, (one mile below Belle Isle) and release the prison- 
ers at the same time. If we do not succeed, they must then dash do-wn 
and we will try and carry the bridge from each side. 

When necessary the men must be filed through the woods and along 
the river bank. The bridge once secured, and the prisoners loose and 
over the river, the bridge will be secured and the city destroyed. The 
men must keep together and well in hand, and once in the city, it must 
be destroyed, and Jeff Davis and his cabinet killed. 

Pioneers will go along with combustible materials. The officer must 
use his discretion about the time of assisting us. Horses and cattle 
which we do not need immediately must be shot rather than left. Every- 
thing on the canal and elsewhere, of service to the rebels, must be des- 
troyed As General Custer may foUow me, be careful not to give a false 
alarm. 

The signal officer must be prepared to communicate at night by 
rockets, and in other things pertaining to this department. 

The quartermasters and commissaries must be on the lookout for their 
departments, and see that there are no delays on their account. 

The engineer officers will follow to survey the road as we pass over 
it, etc. 

The pioneers must be prepared to construct a bridge or to destroy 
one. They must have plenty of oakum and turpentine for burning, 



282 dahlgren's raid around Richmond. 

which, will be rolled in soaked balls, and given to the men to 
burn when we get into the city. Torpedoes will only be used by the 
pioneers for destroying the main bridges, etc. They must be prepared 
to destroy railroads. Men will branch off to the right, with a few 
pioneers, and destroy the bridges and railroads south of Richmond, and 
then join us at the city. They must be prepared with torpedoes, etc. 
The line of Falhng Creek is probably the best to work along — or, as they 
approach the city, the line of Goody's Creek, so that no reinforcement 
can come up on any cars. No one must be allowed to pass ahead, for 
fear of communicating news. Rejoin the command with all haste, and 
if cut off, cross the river above Richmond, and rejoin us. Men will stop 
at Bellona Arsenal, and totally destroy it, and anything else but hospi- 
tals; then follow on and rejoin the command at Richmond with all haste, 
and if cut off, cross the river, and rejoin us. As General Custer may 
follow me, be careful and not give a false alarm. " 

These documents developed a plot so murderous in inten- 
tion, that many persons in the Confederacy thought the 
prisoners taken m this adventure should not be accorded 
the usual privileges of prisoners of war, but should be turned 
over to the State authorities to be dealt with as thieves and 
murderers, and subjected to the usual punishment of felons. 
Again we heard the old talk of retaliation, and to give the 
show of reality to the threat, the Libby Prison was under- 
mined as a miserable warning against attempting another 
such demonstration, but no one for a moment believed that 
the threat of blowing it uj) would ever be carried into effect. 

Dahlgren's body was buried out of sight, mysteriously" 
concealed from all but the prying, curious eyes of a negro, 
who for a heavy bribe disclosed the place to parties who 
exhumed it, and since have returned it to his friends. 

There is one revolting circumstance in connection with 
the termination of this raid of Dahlgren, and the capture 
and death of that officer, which we regret exceedingly to 
record, and would if possible forget — that his finger was cut 
off at the joint to secure a handsome diamond ring, worn 
by him. But if anything so revolting to the nobler instincts 
of humanity must be excused on any ground, it should be 
in the general and disgusting practice permitted on both 
sides, of stripping dead bodies on the battle field. 



DAHLGREN's raid around RICHMOND. 288 

There was very little excitement in Eichmond. So sud- 
denly and unexpectedly did tliis adventure occur, that we 
were scarcely aware of our danger until it was over. What 
"might have been," was so terrible to reflect upon, that it 
awakened grateful prayers to a merciful and protecting 
Providence. The ease with which the invading force was 
scattered and repulsed, the signal failure of every part of 
the combination, give evidence of the cowardly fear which 
must always ]30ssess those whose purposes are guilty, and 
the strength which nerves the arm when the design is 
founded in right. The moral of this story is pointed in the 
memorable language in Hamlet's eulogy: 

"Thus, conscience doth make cowards of us all, 
And thus the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ; 
And enterprises of great pith and moment 
"With this regard, their currents turn awry 
And lose the name of action. " 

It may or it may not be surprising to the people of the 
South to learn that the papers foimd on the person of Colo- 
nel Dahlgren are said by our enemies to have been forged, 
or interpolated so as to present the aspect in which they 
were made public. It is a grave charge, and reflects 
heavily on those who intercepted the raiders and brought 
the evidences of their guilt into Eichmond — a charge which 
we feel prepared to resent with sincere indignation, as 
Lieutenant Pollard, a man as much distinguished for his 
nice sense of honor as for his bravery, would be altogether 
incapable of ^n act that would so compromise his character 
as a gentleman and a soldier. To aU, it must appear patent 
as a flimsy subterfuge, by which to palliate or extenuate the 
dire offence against a comparatively defenceless, and un- 
suspecting people. 

All other evidence wanting, the headings of the orders in 
print are in themselves sufficient, and magnanimity would 
suggest that it were, perhaps, more honorable to permit the 
mantle of oblivion to fall over the ill-starred leader of this 



284 THE SPRING OF 1864. 

unfortunate expedition, wliich, if not devised by' him, was 
one in wliicli he himself became a victim to the diabolical 
machinations of the projectors of the plot, than to attempt 
to fasten upon the innocent the base charge of forgery. And 
here it may be ashed, whether if it had been successful, and 
the capture and killing of the much-hated Davis the result, 
any extenuating apology would be brought forward, for the 
means by which it was accomplished ? It failed, and the in- 
dubitable evidences of murderous purposes are pronounced 
counterfeit ! 



CHAPTEE LV. 

THE SPEING OF 1864 MOBGAn's EETUEN TO EICHMOND. 

THE spring of 1864 set in hopefully for the cause of the 
South. Our successes during the winter had been of 
the most encouraging character. The spirit of the army 
was buoyant and determined — that of the people elastic and 
cheerful. A generous disposition was shown by them in the 
supply of means to support the war. The agricultural 
interests of the country were attended to with redoubled 
energy, and the impressment of supplies for the use of the 
army was regarded with entire satisfaction by those who, 
engaged in agricultural pursuits, were expected to furnish 
them. In Virginia this was peculiarly evident. From her 
moral and geographical position, her responsibilities and 
sufferings were heavier than those of any othej: State. Her 
statistics are full of glory, and history must hand down 
her record so nearly stainless, that despite the contemptible 
weakness accredited to the claims of the E. E. V.'s, her 
children will be pardoned a noble pride, in the confession : 
"My mother State is Virginia!" More than ever before a 
nativity on her soil is to be envied, if the place of birth can 
lend, as it assuredly does, anything of interest to the indi- 
vidual. 



THE SPRING OF 1864 285 

From advantages gained in excess of prisoners taken at 
Vicksburg, the conduct of the exchange was almost wholly 
under the power of the Federals. A refusal to accord terms 
such as could honorably be acceded to by the Confederate 
government, gave rise to anxious doubts and fears that an 
exchange would not occur at all, or at least until some 
unprecedented success placed it in the power of our gov- 
ernment to dictate terms. After many disappointments, 
and after tiresome negotiation, the disagreements on this 
question w^ere so reconciled that the much-desired busi- 
ness of exchange was resumed. With the most gTateful 
pleasure it was announced to us in Richmond that certain 
numbers were to be taken from our prisoners, and in retui'n 
we were once more to welcome to Dixie's Land the defend- 
ers of the soil. This occurred early in the spring. It was 
announced fi'om the different pulpits of our churches on a 
Sabbath morning that a boat load of returned prisoners 
was expected on that day, and the citizens were requested 
to send to the Capitol Square provisions for their refresh- 
ment. The occasion called forth thousands to the square to 
w^elcome their appearance. Refreshments were lavishly 
provided, of the best that could be afforded from the 
impoverished larder of the city of Richmond, and after 
waiting in intense anxiety for a sight of our returned 
friends, after several hours, fi'om afar off, down the main 
street, were heard the strains of " Dixie," and the cheers of 
the multitude that assembled all along the route to greet 
the soldiers so long imprisoned in a hostile land. Finally 
the strains, so faint at first, grew louder and louder, and 
at last a body of nondescript looking men filed into the 
Capitol Square ; but there were enough of them clad in the 
Confederate grey to announce our returning braves. Hats 
were all off on the instant ; cheer after cheer rent the air ; 
the strains of music were drowned in the loud acclamations 
of delight, and as these sounds subsided, enthusiastic boys 
in the crowd raised another shout : " Hurrah for the grey- 
backs," which was warmly responded to, and resounded in 



286 THE SPBING OF 1864. 

volumes of heartfelt congratulation over the hills of Eich- 
mond. 

The soldiers were met and addressed by the President in 
a stirring speech of welcome, praise and encouragement ; 
then followed a short and cheerful address from the Gover- 
nor of Virginia, and again the welkin reverberated the loud 
acclaim for President Davis and Governor Smith. Refresh- 
ments were distributed, hands shaken, congratulations ex- 
changed, and tears of joy glistened on countenances radiant 
with welcome to the captives. 

The scenes of this occasion can never be forgotten by 
those who witnessed them. Mr. Davis evinced the calm 
dignity for which he is distinguished, presenting a vivid con- 
trast to the exuberant spirit and mercurial youthfulness of 
Governor Smith. On this afternoon, with as much appar- 
ent pleasui'e as a young gallant of twenty-five, the latter 
triumphantly exhibited a superb bouquet, the gift of some 
fair friend and admirer. 

Of these festive scenes there was a quiet and unobtrusive 
spectator, then the most distinguished guest in the capital. 
He, too, had been a captive — not formally exchanged by the 
provisions of the cartel, not accorded the usual privileges of 
a prisoner of war ; but his escape had been from the con- 
victs' cell, the home of the felon — from the gloomy, thick, 
impenetrable walls of the Ohio Penitentiary ; and on the 
Capitol Square of the seat of government of his own coun- 
try, with the brazen statue of Washington looking down 
upon the scene, General John Morgan greeted the return of 
his fellow captives. This was not, however, his first appear- 
ance in Richmond after his escape from his disgraceful 
incarceration. There was nothing needed in the manner of 
his reception to testify the grateful appreciation of his fel- 
low citizens of the South. A brilliant welcome was accorded 
him. A splendid banquet was served in his honor at the 
Ballard House, and the President and Vice-President, and 
officers of the government, army and navy, the State of 
Virginia and the members of Congress attended, in.testi- 



THE SPKING OF 1864 287 

mony of their admiration and appreciation. He was the 
hero of the hour. But General Morgan was far too modest, 
too noble, too sensible, to be affected only in the deep grati- 
tude of his brave soul by these manifest declarations of his 
worth by grateful countrymen. 

On this afternoon, as he passed through the crowd, 
accompanied by his young and beautiful wife, save for the 
stars on the collar of his plain grey coat, and his mihtary 
cap, a stranger would have discovered about him none of 
the insignia of rank, and from his modest bearing no one 
would have supposed him to be the Marion of Kentucky. 
Of rarely precious materials are heroes made. 

For awhile the business of exchange was again conducted 
regularly, and as the spring advanced fresh successes gilded 
Confederate arms. Our hopes brightened and our faith 
increased, yet were our hearts heavy with the dread of the 
coming events which must mark their records again in blood 
upon our soil, already glutted with the crimson stream 
which for three long years had been poured in fury upon 
our devoted land. Our souls were sick of carnage, but the 
remorseless maw of War, Hke the daughter of the horse- 
leech, cried Give! give! And the gentle image of Peace 
was thrust aside, and with horent front that of War ob- 
truded. But there appeared another, — a mediator who, 
capturing the olive branch of peace, waved it temptingly 
before us, and whispered " Eeconstruction 1" and vaguely 
hinted at conquest over foreign nations, in which were 
strangely blended the words Mexico, France and England. 
But thrusting aside a friend who came to us in such ques- 
tionable guise, and refusing an alliance purchased at the 
price of our national honor, we reached forth our hands, 
and over the heads of fathers, brothers, sons and friends 
in the field, grasi)ing once more the bloody hand of War, 
w^e resolved to dare the worst rather than be a party to 
ififnoble submission. 



288 PBOPOSED EVACUATION OY KICHMOKD. 

CHAPTER LVI. 

PKOPOSED EVACUATION OF RICHMOND REMOVAL OF THE TREASURY 

NOTE BUREAU. 

THE montli of April, 1864, had chronicled a succession 
of good fortunes to our cause, but the "river of death " 
was ahead of us, and friend looked into the face of friend 
to read a tale of anxiety and sorrow, while sighs usurped 
the place of smiles as the names of friends were mentioned. 
Ever busy Rumor circulated stories from her " thousand 
tongues " in the Confederate Capital, and again we heard 
the ominous word, " Evacuation !" It was reported that the 
government had appropriated a sum for the removal of the 
non-combatants from the city, in order to allow a more 
thorough opportunity for its defence in the event of assault. 

To give this story the semblance of truth, Mr. Memmin- 
ger had ordered the removal of the Treasury Note Bureau, 
(in which women principally were employed,) to Columbia, 
South Carolina, ostensibly to prevent the transportation of 
unsigned notes to the Capital, (as the printing operations 
of the Treasury were conducted in that city, ) but the cred- 
ulous and the suspicious drew a difTerent augury. The 
greatest dissatisfaction at the prospect was manifested by 
the ladies, and a petition was presented to Mr. Memminger, 
signed almost unanimously by them, praying him to rescind 
the objectionable edict ; but whether from prudential mo- 
tives, or otherwise, the Secretary of the Treasury was inex- 
orable, and gave his fair operatives their choice, to go to 
Columbia or to resign their places in the department. 
Deriving, many of them, their daily support from their 
clerkships, they felt compelled to remain in the employment 
of government, and in sorrow and in tears they bade adieu 
to Richmond, and took up theu" departure for the capital 
of the Palmetto State. 

The excitement occasioned by this gave rise to rej^orts that 
the archives of the government were all to be removed, and 



PKOPOSED EVACUATION OF EICHMOND. 289 

the time and place designated. Every day tlie teeming poj)- 
ulation of women and cliildren, and the infirm and aged, 
expected to be sent forth as wanderers, they knew not 
whither, oyer the wasted territory of the Southern Confed- 
eracy. 

In a few days, corrected reports and satisfactory expla- 
nations sufficed to silence these rumors, and to restore con- 
fidence. Yet nought could lift from our hearts the heavy 
gloom of impending terror in the immense preparations 
made by the enemy for our destruction. The monster 
"Anaconda," of w^hich we had been hearing from the com- 
mencement of the war, which was to crush us in its fatal 
coil, was reported by our enemies to be in a fair way to have 
his "tail in his mouth." Once surrounded in his murder- 
ous embrace, there was little chance for our freedom ; the 
death throes of the Confederacy would then tell the agony 
of the final struggle. 

But we listened to these ominous warnings as we listened 
to the whisperings of the wind ; they came to us from the 
North to dampen our ardor, to discourage our fortitude, to 
dismay our souls, but they failed of effect. Defeat was 
nowhere written on our future prospects. Discouragement 
might be, but defeat nowhere ! And we once more hugged 
to our bosoms the phantom of hope, and it sang a lullaby 
to our fears, and the Confederate metropolis pursued its 
usual busy routine, and contented itself with the thought 
that "the end is not!" But the bright genial airs of Spring, 
the perfume of the flowers, the carolling of the feathered 
musicians, awoke in our hearts little feeling of jpleasure, 
when we drew in at every breath the fiery va2:>ors of war, 
and our ears were quickened to hear once more the awful 
music of artillery. 

13 



290 THE BATTLES OF THE WH^DERNESS. . 

CHAPTEE LVn. 

THE SUMMER CAMPAIGN OF 1864-THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS. 

TB!E summer campaign of 1864 against tlie South was 
devised upon a plan of enormous magnitude. General 
Grant, whose former successes had raised him to the highest 
popularity, and gained for him the wiUing confidence of the 
North, had been commissioned Lieutenant-Geneial, and im- 
mediately transferred his personal presence to the army of 
the Potomac, leaving General Sherman as his vicegerent to 
carry out his campaign in the West. Never, since the com- 
mencement of the war, had there been made such magnifi- 
cent preparations in the " On to Richmond " design. War- 
ren, Sedgwick, and Hancock had been made corps com- 
manders of General Grant's army, and to Burnside had been 
assigned a separate corps. Butler, at Fortress Monroe, 
was reinforced by Gillmore's corps from Charleston, and 
by Baldy Smith's corps from the west. To the hero of 
New Orleans was allotted the task of cutting off the city of 
Richmond from its southern lines of communication, while 
Sigel, operating in the Shenandoah Valley, was to cut the 
railroad which by way of Gordons"\dlle connected the army of 
General Lee with its principal base of supplies at Lynchburg. 

These preparations completed for the most important 
campaign in the history of our country, on Wednesday, the 
4th of May, just eight weeks after Lieutenant-General Grant 
had received his commission, his two grand columns were 
ready to move — the one from the north on the line of the 
Rapidan, and the other from Fortress Monroe, one day's sail 
fi'om Richmond. 

On the 5th and 6th days of May was fought the Battle of 
the Wilderness. How well the Confederates sustained 
themselves during the first fight may be inferred from an 
account by a Northern correspondent, who says, " No cheer 
of victory swelled through the Wilderness that night." 

The results of the second day's fight were eminently sue- 



THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS. 291 

cessful to the Confederates, but it seems tliey were not 
aware of the magnitude of their victory, and failed to press 
the advantage gained by them. Generals Seymour and 
Shaler, of the Federal army, with the greater portion of 
their commands, were captured. Being confessedly outgen- 
eralled, Grant was compelled to change his front, which 
required a change of hne for General Lee. This change was 
given by the enemy the name of " retreat," and it was her- 
alded in the press of the North as a " Waterloo defeat of 
the Confederates," and "The retreat of Lee to Eichmond." 
But very soon these mendacious reports were corrected by 
subsequent developments, as had been many of a similar 
character in the preceding history of the war. In this 
engagement General Longstreet was severely wounded, and 
General Jenkins, of South Carolina, lost his life. 

On the 8th of May two engagements were fought at Spot- 
sylvania Court-House, in which the enemy were repulsed. 
On the 9th, which was marked by some skii-mishing, Gen- 
eral Sedgmck, one of the corps commanders of General 
Grant's army, and reported to be a valuable and gallant 
officer, was killed (probably by a stray bullet.) It is said 
he had just at that moment been bantering his men about 
dodging and ducking their heads at the whistle of the Con- 
federate bullets in the distance. "Why," said he, "they 
couldn't hit an elephant at this distance," when in a mo- 
ment a ball entered his face, just below the eye, penetrated 
his brain, and caused his death instantly. 

But on the 12th of May occurred what is entitled the 
great battle of Spotsylvania Court-house. In this engage- 
ment the Confederate Major-General Johnston, with almost 
his entire division, and a brigade or two of other troops, 
under command of Brigadier-General George H. Stuart, 
were captured ; but the result of the battle was that the 
enemy were repulsed with tremendous loss. The ground 
in front of the Confederate lines was piled with his slain. 

The fighting had now continued during six days, and 
had been of the most obstinate and desperate character. 



202 TE BATTLES OF THE WILDEElvESS. 

An intelligent critic says of this period: "It would not 
be impossible to matcli the results of any one day's battle 
with stories from the wars of the old world ; but never, 
we should think, in the history of man, were five such bat- 
tles as these compressed into six days." 

Grant had been foiled, but his obstinacy had not been 
subdued. He telegraphed to Washington : "I propose to 
fight it out on this Hne, if it takes all summer." 

While Grant was engaged on the Eapidan, a cavalry expe- 
dition, under the command of General Sheridan, moved 
around on the right flank of General Lee, to North Anna 
Biver, committed some damage at Beaver Dam Station, on 
the Virginia Central Railroad, proceeded thence to the South 
Anna River and Ashland Station, on the Richmond, Fred- 
ericksburg and Potomac Railroad, destroyed a portion of 
the road at that point, and made its way round to the James 
River at Turkey Island, where its forces joined those of 
Butler. The damage inflicted in this raid was not consid- 
erable, but a severe fight occurred at Yellow Tavern, on the 
direct road to Richmond, on the 10th of May, where a 
Confederate force of cavalry, under our gallant General J. 
E. B. Stuart, encountered that of Sheridan. In this engage- 
ment our illustrious cavalry commander, who had for so 
long a time made Virginia the theatre of brilliant and chiv- 
alrous exploits, which in feudal times would have made all 
Europe ring with the praise of so gallant a knight, was 
killed. 

It seemed indeed very difficult to realize that General 
Jeb. Stuart, late so full of life, so bright, so gay, so brave, 
could be cut down in a moment ; but soon the mournful 
strains of the Dead March, the solemn procession of mili- 
tary mourners, the funeral carriage, the coffin draped with 
the Confederate banner, the saddened citizens w^ho with 
tearful eyes gazed upon the melancholy pageant, told but 
too truly the story of the departure of another hero of the 
South. The laurel and the cypress strangely intertwined in 
the wreath of the South, and the mourning chaplet was 
growing almost too heavy to be liorne on her brow. 



THE BATTLES OF THE WIIDEEXESS. 293 

In the meantime, Butler's column, intended to operate 
against us on the south side, in co-operation with Grant on 
the noi-th of Kichmond, had commenced its movement. 

On the 5th of May he proceeded with his fleet of gun- 
boats and transports up the James Kiver, landing at Wil- 
son's Wharf a regiment of Wild's negro troops, two brig- 
ades of negroes at Fort Powhatan, thence up to City Point, 
where he landed Hinks's division, and at Bermuda Hundred 
he disembarked his whole army. On the 7th of May a por- 
tion of his command struck for the Kichmond and Peters- 
burg Kailroad, and succeeded in destroying a bridge seven 
miles north of Petersburg. His intention was, and he 
boasted that he could carry the defences of Drewry's Bluff, 
the main barrier of approach to the Confederate capital, 
by the route of the James River, and it had been stated in 
the papers at the North that he had succeeded in cutting 
the army of Beauregard in twain, and " held the keys to 
the back door of Richmond." But this consummation, so 
" devoutly to be wished " by the redoubtable hero of New 
Orleans was altogether in anticipation. We read : " On the 
16th of May General Beauregard fell upon the insolent 
enemy, in a fog, drove Butler from his advanced positions 
back to his original earth-works, and inflicted upon him a 
loss of five thousand men in killed, wounded and captured. 
He had fallen upon the right of the Yankee Hne of battle 
with the force of an avalanche, completely crushing it back- 
ward and turning Butler's flank. The action was decisive. 
The day's operation resulted in Butler's entire army being 
ordered to return from its advanced position vdthin ten 
miles of Richmond, to the hne of defence known as Ber- 
muda Hundred, between the James and. Appomatox Rivers." 

The expedition of Sigel in the Valley had also come to 
grief. On the 15th of May his column was encountered by 
the Confederate General Breckinridge, near New Market, 
who drove it across the Shenandoah, captured six pieces of 
artillery, nearly one thousand stand of small arms, and 
inflicted upon it heavy loss in men. Sigel was forced to 



294: THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS. 

abandon his hospitals and to desti-oy the lai^er portion of 
his train. 

In the meantime a new movement was undertaken by 
General Grant, to pass his army from the line of the Po, 
(which had been occupied by him since the battle of Spot- 
sylvania Court-House,) down the valley of the Rappahan- 
nock, which compelled General Lee to evacuate a strong 
position occupied by him on the line of the Po, and by 
admirable strategy he succeeded again in intercepting 
Grant, and planted himself between Grant and Richmond, 
near Hanover Junction. We find : " On the 23d and 25th 
of May General Grant made attempts on the Confederate 
lines, that were repulsed, and left him to the last alternative. 
Another flanking operation remained for him, by which " he 
swung his army from the North Anna around and across 
the Pamunky. On the 27th Hanovertown was reported to 
be occupied by the Yankee advance under General Sheri- 
dan, and on the 28th Grant's entire army was across the 
Pamunky." 

" General Lee also reformed his line of battle north and 
south, directly in front of the Virginia Central Railroad, and 
extending from Atler's Station south to Shady Grove, ten 
miles north of Richmond. In this position he covered both 
the Virginia Central and the Fredericksburg and Richmond 
Railroads, leading to Richmond, west of and including the 
Mechanicsville pike. The favorite tactics of Grant appear 
to have been to develop the left flank ; and by this charac- 
teristic manoeuvre he moved down the Hanover Court- 
House road, and on the first day of June he took a position 
near Cold Harbor." 

He was now within a few miles of Richmond. The North- 
ern itiind was buoyed up with the report of the certainty of 
the capture of the "rebel capital " wi!:hin the usual time — 
" ten days." But it was altogether too fast. The circum- 
stance of the close proximity to the city, the view of the 
spires of the churches and domes of prominent edifices in 
Richmond, did not mean that the army of the enemy were 



THE BATTLES OF THE WTLDEENESS. 295 

quite in occupation, as was proven by the defeat of General 
McGlellan, when so near that he might almost, with good 
glasses, have looked in upon our breakfast tables ; and the 
"retreat of Lee," as usually understood by the Federals, was 
simply to counteract and check every movement attempted 
by General Grant, from the time of his advance at the battle 
of the Wilderness up to the time t],iat he essayed the pass- 
age of the Chickahominy and succeeded in establishing him- 
self at Cold Harbor, a strategic point of great importance to 
him, as it furnished him an easy communication with his 
base of supplies at the White House, on the Pamunky 
Kiver. But the attainment of this point had not been at 
slight cost, but with the loss of more than two thousand 
men in killed and wounded. 

There is abundant evidence to infer that General Grant 
intended to make the conflict at Cold Harbor the decisive 
battle of the campaign. One who was well-informed, and 
and who closely watched the progTess of these events, 
writes : "The movements of the preceding days, culmi- 
nating in the possession of Cold Harbor — an important 
strategic point — had drawn the enemy's hnes close in front 
of the Chickahominy, and reduced the military problem to 
the forcing of the passage of that river; a problem which, if 
solved in Grant's favor, would decide whether Richmond 
could be carried by a coup de main, if a decisive victory 
should attend his arms, or whether he should betake himself 
to siege operations, or some other course. 

Early on the morning of the 3d of June the assault was 
made. The first line of the Confederates held by General 
Breckinridge was carried — but the reverse was only momen- 
tary — for the troops of Millegan's Brigade and the Mary- 
land battalion dashed forward, and retrieved the honors 
temporarily gathered by the enemy. 

The account before referred to proceeds: "On every part 
of the Hne, the enemy was repulsed by the quick and 
decisive blows of the Confederates. Hancock's corps, the 
only portion of the Yankee army that had come in contact 



296 - THE BATTLES OE THE WILDERNESS. 

witli the Confederate works, had been hurled back in a 
storm of fire; the Sixth corps had not been able to get up 
further than within two hundred and fifty yards of the main 
works; while Warren and Burnside, or the enemy's right 
and right centre were staggered on the lines of our rifle-ioits. 
The decisive work. of the day was done in ten minutes. 
Never were there such signal strokes of valor, such despatch 
of victory. It was stated in the accounts of the Confede- 
rates, that fourteen distinct assaults of the enemy were 
repulsed, and that his loss was from six to seven thousand. 
No wonder that the assurance of the capture of Kichmond 
was displaced in the newspapers of the North, by the omin- 
ous calculation that Grant could not afford many such 
experiments on the intrenched line of the Chickahominy, 
and would have to make some other resort to victory." 

The battle of Cold Harbor forever removed the impression 
of the demorahzation of General Lee's army, and ended 
the attempt to take Eichmond from the north side. The 
barefooted, ragged, ill-fed rebel army, which had been 
under fire for more than a month, had achieved a succession 
of victories unparalleled- in the history of modern warfare. 
General Grant and his fiiends were alike astonished. The 
latter insisted he should have half a million of men to en- 
able him to accomplish his work, and a Boston paper said, 
" We should have a vigorous and overwhelming war, or else 
peace without further effusion of blood." 

We had witnessed the failure of the seventh expedition 
gent out for the capture of Richmond. We had seen, one 
after another, six of the defeated candidates for that honor, 
reheved of command, and quietly consigned to his place on 
the shelf. We had watched with the most curious interest 
the rivalry in the different routes to the desired end. We 
had seen General McClellan in his Peninsular rout driven 
from our walls, and taking refuge on board his gunboats ; 
we had seen McDowell and Pope from the North, driven 
back, routed and dismayed, under cover of the guns of 
Alexandria and Washington. Burnside and Hooker had 



THE BATTLES OF THE "WILDEIINESS. 297 

been driven back across tbe Eappahannock, and now Gen- 
eral Grant from his eccentric route through the tangled 
roads of the Wilderness, and by Spotsylvania Court House', 
dismayed, disconcerted with his stock of expedients well 
nigh exhausted, had been compelled to transfer his army to 
the south side of the James, and was driven to resort to 
the capture of Eichmond by siege operations. 

Notwithstanding, his avowal to " fight it out on this line " 
if it took all summer, Grant found himself most umviUingly 
transferred to a new base of operations. 

The most striking feature in the character of this dis- 
tinguished commander of the Federal army, seems to be 
quiet determination, and indomitable perseverance and en- 
ergy. Under similar disappointment, another would have 
had his courage so shaken that he would gladly have fore- 
gone an undertaking that promised so little fulfillment in 
success. The saving of his army appeared not to have been 
with him an object, if by it he should lose an advantage. 
He had received, from the battle of the Wilderness to that 
of Cold Harbor, repeated and powerful repulses; his logses 
in men were unparalleled in the whole history of the strug- 
gle, but his perseverance was undisturbed, and the inten- 
tion to bear him out is evidenced by the immense rein- 
forcements with which he was continually supplied. 

From the Wilderness to Eichmond he is reported to 
have lost from sixty to one hundred thousand men — some 
accounts place his figures still higher, but fi'om the teeming 
multitudes of the North, it was an easy matter to fill up the 
gaps in his ranks — while for a Confederate soldier killed, the 
question began to be one of importance, " Where shall one 
be found to fill his place in the ranks ?" 

A Confederate officer, in speaking of one of these battles, 
remarked, " I never witnessed such destruction of life. One 
day after a battle," said he, "my own horse being exhausted, 
I borrowed one to ride to a position of the field, a mile or 
two distant. On passing a company of soldiers, I asked, 
*Are there any Yankees in this direction?' they replied, 



298 THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS. 

*Tes; thousands, and in line of battle.' ' Well, then,' I re- 
joined, 'I must retreat, this horse is a borrowed one, and 
however little I may care for my own capture, I do not wish 
my friend to lose his horse.' I had turned my horse to ride 
back, when they shouted, * Halloo, soldier, but they are all 
dead !' I then pursued my way to that portion of the 
field, and such a sight met my gaze as I had never before 
witnessed, and pray never to see again! In a direct line 
for more than two miles, in every attitude of death, it 
seemed to me there was not a foot of earth uncovered by a 
human figure. In some places they lay in heaps of two, 
three and four, which proved that a whole line of the enemy 
must have been cut down by our fire, and there they lay 
unburied, their ghastly features distorted in the terrible re- 
pose of an agonizing death." 

It has been said, (but denied by certain Federal ofiicers 
with whom we have conversed) that at the battle of Cold 
Harbor Grant's men were furnished with extra rations of 
whiskey, to sustain their sinking courage; but ib is a fact 
that many of them were said to have been partially intoxi- 
cated when taken prisoners, and to have marched up to the 
breastworks of the Confederates and voluntarily surrendered 
themselves, and those who resisted were knocked down by 
clubbed muskets. These things were stated to us by more 
than one Confederate officer, of whose veracity there is not 
the slightest question. 

From the difference also evinced in the temper and dis- 
position of the prisoners taken during this series of battles 
may be gathered the impression made upon the mind of 
the army of General Grant, by the repeated reverses ex- 
perienced in his attempt to take Eichmond, in the spring 
of 1864. At first those taken seemed defiant and revenge- 
ful, spoke freely of a speedy rescue, and the certainty of 
the capture of the rebel capital, and of the success of 
Grant's campaign; those captured at the later battles were 
despondent, discouraged, hopeless, and heaped unmeasured 
blame upon their government for continuing a war that 



PETE.RSBUEG. 299 

appeared to them unlikely to end successfully for their 
cause; and appHed to General Grant an unenviable sobri- 
quet, for the unparalleled sacrifice of human life in an under- 
taking that promised so httle hope of accomphshing the end 
desired. 



CHAPTER LVm. 

PETERSBURG. 



PETEESBURG had abeady sustained a heavy attack. On 
the 9th of June an expedition under Butler, had essayed 
the capture of the "Cockade City." The approach was made 
wich nine regiments of infantry and cavalry, and at least 
four pieces of artillery, with w^hich the enemy searched the 
Confederate lines for a distance of nearly six miles. They 
were opposed by Hood's and Battle's battalions, the forty- 
sixth Virginia, one company of the twenty-third South Car- 
olina, with Sturdevant's battery, and a few guns in position, 
and Tahaferro's cavalry. The enemy were twice repulsed, 
but succeeded finUly in penetrating the line of the Confed- 
erates, when the timely appearance of reinforcements to the 
Rebels, the most of whom were raw -troops and mihtia, en- 
abled them to drive back the greatly superior numbers that 
opposed them. The successful repulse of the first attack 
upon the " Cockade City " greatly encouraged the forces for 
its local defence. General Wise delivered an address to the 
troojDS under his command with his pecuharly thrilling elo- 
quence, telling them that " Petersburg is to be and shall be 
defended on her outer walls, on her inner lines, at her cor- 
poration bounds, in every street, and around every temple 
of God, and every altar of man." 

However, the resolution of this gallant Httle city was to 
be tested by a more severe trial, and to stand the shock of 
battle from the bulk of Grant's army. General Beauregard 
was transferred with his army to command and operate in 



300 PE.TEIISBUIIG. 

tlie defence. On the litli June an assault was made on tlie 
line of the Confederates which covered the northeastern 
approach to the city, and^ resulted in the capture of that 
line of works. On the evening of the 16th an attack was 
ordered on the Confederate works in front of Petersburg, 
resulting not only in a repulse at every point, but, the rebel 
troops, assuming the aggressive, drove the enemy from their 
breastworks at the Howlett House, and opened upon them 
an enfilading fire under which they fled with the utmost pre- 
cipitation. Particularly noticeable in this defence was the 
action of General Hoke's division, which successfully 
repulsed three different charges of the enemy. In the final 
repulse a large portion of a brigade of the foe, being exposed 
to a heavy fire from the Confederate artillery, sought shelter 
in a ravine, and surrendered to the Sixty-fourth Georgia 
regiment. 

On the 17tli, the fighting was renewed without result. 
On the 18th, it was resolved by the enemy to make an assault 
along the whole line for the purpose of carrying the town, 
and evidently intended to be decisive. Three different 
assaults were made during the day, each to be repulsed. 
After severe losses on the part of each corps of the enemy 
engaged in the assault, at night the Confederates were still 
in possession of their works covering Petersburg, and Gen- 
eral Grant was driven to the necessity of making stiU 
another change in his operations. The series of engage- 
ments around Petersburg had cost him not less than ten 
thousand men in killed and wounded, and had culminated in 
another decisive defeat. 

Pickett's division at the same time taught the enemy 
another severe lesson at Port Walthall Junction. It was 
here that the heroes of Gettysburg engaged and repulsed a 
force under General Gillmore, (of Charleston notoriety,) who 
were employed in the destruction of the raih'oad, took two 
lines of his breastv/orks, and put him to the most disastrous 
flight. 

Another portion of the combination, designed as an aux- 



PETEESBUEG. 301 

iJiary to the general plan of Grant, had also failed of success. 
G-eneral Sheridan, in his advance on Charlottesville, had, on 
the 10th of June, been intercepted by the Confederate cav- 
aky under General Wade Hampton, disastrously defeated 
in an engagement at TreviUian's Station on the Central Kail- 
road, and compelled to withdraw his command across the 
North Anna River. 

General Hunter's expedition had also failed. On the 
18th of June he made an attack upon Lynchburg, and 
was repulsed by the Confederates from General Lee's lines 
under General Jubal Early. On the next day, more reinforce- 
ments having arrived, General Early prepared to attack the 
enemy, when he retreated in great confusion. An account 
says, "We took thirteen of his guns, and pursued him to 
Salem, in Roanoke County, and forced him into a line of 
retreat into the mountains of western Virginia." Strange to 
say, General Hunter officially announced to his government 
that his expedition had been "extremely successful;" that 
he only left Lynchburg because his ammunition was running 
short, and that as to the eccentric line he had taken up, he 
"now was ready to move in any direction." 

But the measure of the misfortunes of this campaign was 
not yet full. On the 22d of June, Grant made an attempt 
to get possession of the Weldon Railroad, which resulted 
in disaster, the Confederates under General Anderson cap- 
turing four gnins and one entire brigade of prisoners, and a 
portion of another brigade from the Second and Sixth corps 
of the army of Grant. And yet another expedition was des- 
tined to failure. Another raid on the railroad was attempted 
in the neighborhood of the Spotswood River, on the 28th of 
June, by Wilson's and Kautz's divisions of cavaky. Here 
they encountered the Confederate cavalry under Hampton, 
and the infantry brigades of Mahone and Finnegan, and the 
results of the engagements were ui loss to the enemy of 
one thousand prisoners, thirteen pieces of artillery, thirty 
wagons and ambulances, and many small arms. 

With this may be said to have ended this long-protracted 



302 PETEESBUKG. 

and remarkable campaign. It had been distinguisbed, from 
the beginning, by a series of disasters, and would have 
effectually discouraged one less intrepid and persevering 
than General Grant. From all indications it appeared to 
us evident that the North was beginning to stagger under 
the accumulation of disaster. Gold had already touched 
nearly three hundred. There were ominous whispers in 
Washington of the necessity for another draft, and the dis- 
content at the North was growing strong. The disposition 
at the South to continue the war at all hazards, had been 
combated by the Confederate Congress in a published depre- 
catory address. One account says : "These declarations were 
eagerly seized upon by Northern journals, who insisted that 
no time should be lost in determining whether they might 
not possibly signify a wilHngness on the part of the South 
to make peace on the basis of new constitutional guaran- 
ties." The financial condition of the Federal Treasury was 
growing desperate. Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, had peremptorily resigned, and had declared that noth- 
ing could prevent the financial ruin of the country but a 
series of the most unqualified successes. 

In the temper of the masses at the South there was stiU 
no perceptible change. They seemed more than ever before 
determined on the prosecution of the war, and desired peace 
only upon the recognition of their independence. It is true 
in the last elections to the Confederate Congress there were 
several members elect known as " Union Men," but they only 
held those principles under certain guaranties to the South, 
and these men represented a very small portion of one of 
the States of the Confederacy, and their influence was almost 
un appreciable in that body. 



PETERSBUKG. oUo 

CHAPTER LIX. 

STARVATION IN RICHMOND. 

IN Ricliinond we liad never known such a scarcity of food 
— such absolute want of the necessaries of life. The 
constant inteiTuption to our means of transportation pre- 
vented the importation of the usual supplies, and the huck- 
sters from the adjoining counties dared not attempt to 
bring in their products to Richmond, for fear of capture or 
other misfortune. Our markets presented a most impover- 
ished aspect. A few stalls at which was sold poor beef, 
and some at which a few potatoes and other vegetables were 
placed for sale, were about all that were oj)ened in the Rich- 
mond markets. Our usual supphes of fish were cut off by 
the lines occupied by the enemy, and as a general rule a 
Richmond dinner at this time consisted of dried Indian 
peas, rice and salt bacon, and corn bread, A servant sent 
to market would be likely to return with an empty basket, 
or something of so miserable an appearance that the stom- 
ach revolted, probably, at the sight, and we very gratefully 
partook of our salt meat and dried peas, varied sometimes 
with a xlessert of sorghum sirup. Yet the spirits of the 
people were unconquered. Despondency was unknown. A 
cheerful submission to these increased inconveniences was 
everywhere visible, and a more certain hope of prosperity 
in the Confederate cause indicated, by aU. The want of 
necessary food, the inflated prices of provisions, the con- 
stant depreciation of the Confederate money, were all recon- 
ciliable in the cheerful confidence of final success. The 
safety of Richmond we began to regard as incontestable. 
AVe had witnessed too many attempts and too many failures 
in the attemj)ts at its capture to believe it would ever be 
abandoned to our enemies. We had begun to regard it as 
invulnerable. 

In illustration of this belief a lady says : ''I was one 
afternoon, accompanied by a young officer of the Confede- 



SOJ: STAKYATION IN EICHMOND. 

rate army, returning from a visit to a wounded friend, then 
at Howard's Grove , Hospital, a rnile and a half from 
Richmond. On passing the Capitol Square we were 
attracted by the music of a brass band. We turned into the 
grounds, and there we witnessed the review of the Corps of 
Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, by Governor 
Smith. It was an interesting affair. These young soldiers 
had acquired an honorable prestige in the war, and were 
addressed with very happy effect by the Governor, who com- 
plimented them as they so well deserved on their services 
in the cause of the Confederacy. His speech over, there 
were loud calls for an address from a prominent officer 
then present, who was distinguished for his eloquence as 
well as his patriotism. His remarks were beautiful and 
encoui'aging. This corps carried a banner, on one side of 
which was the coat of arms and motto of Virginia, and on • 
the other was the portrait of Washington. In one comer 
of the banner was a miniature representation of the " old 
flag" — the Stars and Stripes. It was an old banner and 
had been borne by these youthful soldiers on many a hotly 
contested field. The orator alluded, in beautiful and glow- 
ing language, to the gallant action of this youthful band 
of soldiers, and pointing to their banner, happily .alluded 
to the fact that, though riddled all around by the balls of 
the enemy, the portrait of Washington still remained un- 
touched. There on the canvas it remained intact, while the 
miniature flag in the corner was riddled with bullets. He 
alluded to the protracted and bloody campaign through 
which we had passed, and to the many futile attempts to cap- 
ture our capital — and then pointing to the equestrian 
statue of Washington, he declared that until we gained our 
independence, 'On that statue no Yankee shall ever look, 
unless he comes as a captive.' 

" Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, I was led by 
these remarks to approach near enough to examine the 
ensign borne by the cadets. Sure enough, the image, like 
the living body of the immortal Father of his Country, 



Sherman's maech. 805 

seemed not made to be pierced by a ball ; and, strange to 
say, the miniature Stars and Stripes was very nearly cut 
out, and I laid this by in my heart as an omen of good for 
our cause." 

Alas for the Tvisdom of human calculations, for the pre- 
science which is uttered with all the assurance of prophecy ! 
Twelve months had not passed and the beautiful month of 
May had not returned to chronicle the records of another 
bloody campaign, ere, underneath the shadow of that same 
equestrian statue, on which our distinguished orator had 
told his youthful fellow soldiers " no Yankee shall ever look, 
unless he comes as a captive," there were seen thousands, 
not as captives, but as the conquering hosts, to whom our 
devoted city was at last compelled to surrender. "Wlien 
they once more planted the " Stars and Stripes " over the 
building where once sat in council our National Legislators, 
— our prophetic orator was a fugitive ; and the cause that 
gave inspiration to his eloquence was ruined ! 



CHAPTER LX. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE ALABAMA SHERMAn's MAECH. 

CLOUDS and sunshine, light and darkness, alternately 
shed their brightness or their gloom upon the firma- 
ment of the Confederate capital, as day by day we heard 
tidings of success or failure in our cause. While our hearts 
v/ere filled with congratulation at the success of the cam- 
paign in Virginia for the Confederates, from the high seas 
was borne to us the intelligence of the loss of our most 
efficient privateer, the "Alabama." Having so little of a 
na^^ with w^hich to compete with the powerful and weU- 
appointed fleets of the enemy, and fully appreciating the 
value of the " Alabama," her loss to us was a severe inflic- 
tion, a heavy blow to the privateering interests of the South. 



306 Sherman's march. 

When we compare tlie glory which might have attached 
to Confederate arms in the event of his success, with the 
more powerful interests imperilled by defeat, we cannot for- 
bear to censure Captain Semmes for the risk he ran in the 
naval engagement which, although it might have been vic- 
torious, could but very little have damaged the cause of the 
enemy, while his own defeat and the loss of the "Alabama" 
threw a heavy shadow over the fortunes of the Confederacy. 
This engagement occurred near the French port of Cher- 
bourg. Whether through the persuasion of others, or be- 
cause Captain Semmes felt persuaded that victory would 
settle on the Confederate flag in this naval duel, it seems 
he had not the moral courage to resist the temptation when 
placed in his way in a form so alluring. An hour's fight 
decided the fate of the "Alabama." So seriously had she 
suffered that she was found to be sinking, and when the 
" Kearsarge " was within four hundred yards of him. Cap- 
tain Semmes hauled down his colors ; yet was the "Ala- 
bama " fired upon five times after her colors were struck. 
Captain Semmes said : " It is charitable to suppose that a 
ship of war of a Christian nation could not have done this 
intentionally." 

We find that : "As the Alabama was on the point of 
settling, every man, in obedience to a previous order which 
had been given to the crew, jumped overboard and Endeav- 
ored to save himself. There was no appearance of any boat 
coming from the enemy after the Alabama went down. 
Fortunately, however, the steam yacht " Deerhound," owned 
by a gentleman of Lancashire, England — Mr. John Lancas- 
ter — who was himself on board, steamed up in the midst of 
the drowning men, and rescued a number of both officers 
and men from the water, among them Semmes himself. 

The loss of the Alabama, in killed and wounded, was 
thirty. There was no life lost on the* Kearsarge, and but 
little damage done to the vessel. Li his official report of 
the fight, Captain Semmes said, " At the end of the engage- 
ment it was discovered by those of our officers who went 



sheeman's march. 307 

alongside the enemy's sliip with the wounded, that her mid- 
ship section on both sides was thoroughly iron-coated, this 
having been done with chain constructed for the purpose, 
placed perpendicularly from the rail to the water's edge, the 
whole covered with a thin outer planking, which gave no 
indication of the armor beneath. The planking had been 
ripped off in every direction by our shot and shell, the chain 
broken and indented in many places, and forced partly into 
the ship's side. She was most effectually guarded, however, 
in this section, from penetration." 

Such had been the terror inspired by the Confederate 
privateers, (of which the Alabama was the most formida- 
ble,) so great the damage done to American shipping, that it 
was officially reported in Washington that 478,665 tons of 
American shipping were ^ying other flags. That service had 
caused nearly a thousand Yankee vessels to be sold to foreign 
shipping merchants. The Alabama alone had accomplished 
a work of destruction estimated at from eight to ten millions 
of dollars. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the 
news of her loss was received with the most intense delight 
on the Exchanges of New York and Boston — in the language 
of another, " with a joy far Uvelier than would have been 
conceived by these commercial patriots if they had heard of 
a great victory over Lee's army in Virginia.'' 

Simultaneously with Grant's movement against Richmond 
was the parallel movement of General Sherman against 
Atlanta. It appears from the official report of General Sher- 
man's operations that he estimated the force required to 
reach Atlanta at one hundred thousand men and two hun- 
dred and fifty pieces of artillery. He started with ninety- 
eight thoi^sand seven hundred and ninety-seven men and 
two hundred and fiity-four guns. He was opposed by the 
Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston, who, with 
his force all told, of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, had not 
more than forty-five thousand men. Seeing himself con- 
fronted by more than twice his number. General Johnston 
had no other prospect of success than in the exercise of supe- 



808 Sherman's march. 

rior skill and strategy. ' From the very superior nnmerical 
strengtli of the enemy, it became evident to General John- 
ston that it would be expedient in him to risk the chances of 
battle only when some unfortunate blunder of the enemy 
might place him in such a position as to give him coun- 
terbalancing advantages. He therefore fell slowly back, but 
kept sufficiently near the Yankee army to prevent its send- 
ing reinforcements to General Grant, hoxDing by success- 
fully niauoeuvering, and by taking advantage of positions 
as they opportunely appeared, to weaken the force of the 
enemy, and reduce the enormous odds against which he was 
contending. 

He also expected Sherman's force to be materially reduced 
before the end of June by the expiration of the terms of 
service of many of the regiments which had not re-enlisted. 
He therefore fell back to Cassville in two marches. Here, 
expecting to be attacked, he made a stand. He had secured 
a position which he considered highly advantageous to him, 
but deferring to the opinion of Lieutenant-General Hardee, 
he decided to abandon this position and fall back across the 
Etowah. In his official report of this movement he says 
of this dilemma : " The other two officers, however, were so 
earnest and unwilling to depend on the ability of their corps 
to defend the ground, that I yielded, and the army crossed 
the Etowah on the 20th of May, a step which I have regret- 
ted ever since." 

From the 25th to the 27th of May occurred the engage- 
ments at the New Hope Church, which resulted favorably 
for the Confederates. Thus far the retrograde movement 
of General Johnston was regarded as successful, and the 
victories achieved at Resaca and New Hope, very consider- 
able. 

A writer says of the strategy of General Johnston : " It 
had been executed deliberately, being scarcely ever under 
the immediate presence of the enemy's advance, and it had 
now nearly approached the decisive line of the Chattahoochee, 
or whatever other hue he who was supposed to be greatest 



sheeman's juiaecil 309 

strategist of tlie Confederacy should select for tlie cover of 
Atlanta." On the 1st of June lie telegraphed to Eichmond 
with his usual modesty, " In the partial engagements," 
(referring to his army,) " it has had great advantages, and the 
sum of all the combats amounts to a battle." The two armies 
continued to manoeuvre for position. From the 4th of June, 
from point to point, the skirmishing continued at intervals 
until the 27th of June. General Johnston was attacked by 
Sherman on his position on the Kenesaw Mountain, which, 
by Sherman's frank admission, was to him a failure. He 
again resorted to manoeuvering, until finally General John- i 
ston fell back upon Atlanta, and there commenced in- 
trenching himself. This retreat of Johnston was variously 
received the Confederate public. To many it was a sore / 
disappcintment. It had abandoned to the enemy more 
than half of Georgia, one of the finest wheat districts 
of the Confederacy, then ripe for the harvest, and at Rome 
and on the Etowah River had surrendered to the enemy 
iron rolling-mills and government works of immense value. 
In other respects it was considered a masterpiece of strat- 
egy, and a solid as well as a splendid success. General John- 
ston possessed in an eminent degree the confidence of his 
army, and the people of the Confederacy, and although there 
was evinced sincere disappointment in the conduct of the 
campaign, yet so well satisfied were the public generally of 
the superior military wisdom and tact of General Johnston 
that few were really disposed to complain of a strategy, 
which was not altogether at that time understood. j 

The advantages secured by him were indisputable. In 
explanation, Johnston writes: "At Dalton the great numer- 
ical superiority of the enemy made the chances of battle 
much against us; and, even if beaten, they had a safe refuge 
behind the fortified pass of Ringgold and in the fortress of 
Chattanooga. Our refuge in case of defeat was in Atlanta, 
one hundred miles off, with three rivers intervening. There- 
fore victory for us could not have been decisive, while defeat 
would have been utterly disastrous. Between Dalton and 



810 sherjian's march. 

the Cliattalioocliee we could "have given battle only by attack- 
ing the enemy intrenched, or so near intrenchments, that 
the only result of success to us would have been his falling ' 
back into them, while defeat would have been our ruin. 

" In the course pursued our troops, always fighting under 
cover, had very trifling losses compared with those they 
inflicted, so that the enemy's numerical superiority was 
reduced daily and rapidly, and we could reasonably have 
expected to cope with the Federal army on equal ground by 
the time the Chattahoochee was passed. Defeat on this side 
of the river would have been its destruction. We, if beaten, 
had a refuge in Atlanta, too strong to be assaulted, and too 
extensive to be invested. 

When midsummer came on, it was obvious that an unmis- 
takable check had been given to the concurrent operations 
intended for the destruction of the Southern Confederacy. 
General Grant had been brought to a " stand still " before 
Petersburg, and General Sherman before Atlanta, and the 
rebellion, which in its inception its enemies vainly thought 
to crush in the space of three months, was then, in the 
fourth year of its existence, even more formidable than 
before and awakened in the mind of the North more serious 
doubt of its power to destroy it than when it first reared its 
head in support of rights claimed by the South. 

It was a curious question then to contemplate, and now a 
curious one upon which to reflect. And if in the cause that 
animated the South, that prompted devotion and self-sac- 
rifice unparalleled in history, there were no elements of 
right, it was most unmercifully given over to a delusion to 
work its ruin. Can a believer in a God of justice accredit 
this? 

We hardly dare to refer to the sufferings endured by the 
people of that section of the South over which General 
Sherman drew the trail of war. Enough to say that deso- 
lation was written on almost every foot of ground, misery 
on almost every human heart. Let a pen more eloquent 
describe all except the fierce spirit of revenge that reared 



SHEKMAN's liLlRCH. 811 

its liyclra head in every bosom, and qnenclied effectually the 
latent fires of love that once glowed in devotion to the 
Union. The heart of woman is rarely broken by oppres- 
sion, but it is sometimes turned to stone ! 

At the same time the vandalism of Hunter in Virginia 
awoke a similar spirit, and even drew upon him the censure, 
in no measured terms, of certain journals of the North. 
After his defeat at Lynchburg by General Early, on the 18th 
of June, he found no way of escape but through the Blue 
Ridge to the Gauley River. His footprints were marked by 
desolation, devastation, misery. He was distinguished in 
Virginia for the lawless execution of Dr. Creigh, of Green- 
brier County, the burning of the Vii'ginia Military Institute 
and the house of Ex-Governor Letcher, whose family were 
allowed only ten minutes to secure a few articles of cloth- 
ing. These are prominent acts. On the fair face of the 
country over which he travelled, unmistakable marks of 
ruin sx3eU the name of "Hunter!" 

Yet no craven spirit of fear, no miserable spirit of sub- 
mission took possession of the souls of the peojDle, but a 
more defiant resistance, a more stubborn resolution to 
oppose to the bitter end the lawless mob who came armed 
to commit outrages under the plea of " military necessity." 
It is deeply painful to refer to phases of the late war that re- 
veal only the dark shades of demorahzation and brutality. 
We generally prefer to contemplate beautiful instances of hu- 
manity with which our recollection is furnished ; but truths 
are stubborn — they are irresistible; and in defence of the 
•women of the South we may say, the wonder is not that in 
many instances they are fierce, revengeful and vindictive, 
but that in them there is left any of the woman's heart — 
any quality to redeem them from the character of fiends 
incarnate. Alas ! too many of them have stories to tell — 
not mere figments, painted in the glowing imagination of 
the sensitive, excited brain, but truth, "stranger than 
fiction " — substantiated by the bare chimneys, the charred 
and blackened walls, the ruin and desolation of homes that 



312 

were domestic Edens until the fierce blast of cruel war 
awoke them from their dream of happiness. And more. 
Their tales of sorrow are verified in the gTeen hillocks that 
cover the remains of their hearts' treasures — the dear ones, 
not sent thither by powder and ball, but who found in the 
friendly bosom of "mother earth" the only refuge from the 
dire miseries entailed upon them by the invader. Over 
these things we would fain throw the mantle of obhvion ; 
but the wounds are too deep for the friendly covering to 
hide from view the ugly scars left by them. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

EAKLy's campaign ^WASHINGTON THREATENED. 

TO further their summer campaign, the Confederates 
planned a series of offensive operations, the object of 
which was to frustrate the main campaigns of the enemy in 
the East and West. They were, however, on a small scale, 
comprehending the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania 
by General Early, the invasion of Kentucky by General 
Morgan, and the invasion of Missouri by General Price. 
Their results were in the main small, weak and unimport- 
ant, and productive of but little sensible good to the Con- 
federacy. 

General Early penetrated as far as Hagerstown and 
Greencastle, dislodging the enemy on the route, and cap- 
turing valuable stores. On the 9th of July he disappeared 
from the vicinity of Hagerstown, Greencastle and other 
points threatened, for the purpose of concentrating his 
forces. In the meanwhile the Yankee forces, who had held 
Frederick City, fell back four miles, to Monocacy bridge. 
At this point they were engaged by the Confederates, which 
resulted in their dislodgment, and with considerable loss 
they fied in the direction of Gettysburg. In this action, 



early's campaign. 818 

•^hicli lasted only about two houi's, General Early lost, in 
killed and wounded, between five and six hundred men and 
some valuable officers. He did not pursue tlie flying enemy, 
but pressed on directly towards Washington and Baltimore, 
making rapid marches, but valuable collections of cattle and 
horses all along the route. 

Washington was in imminent peril. The Confederate 
army was within sight of the city. Whispers of alarm ran 
through the North. The garrison defending the city was 
comparatively weak, and there are reasons to beheve the 
Federal capital might have been taken by assault. But 
the opportunity was lost. General Early reconnoitred the 
defences, scattered his forces into expeditions to intercept 
trains and destroy telegraphs, but could not decide to attack 
the capital of the enemy , 

The hopes and expectations of the South, which had been 
elevated to fever height, were doomed again to disappoint- 
ment. We were mortified to contemplate another half-fin- 
ished victory, and public censure bore hea\ily upon General 
Early. But for his indecision, it was said, he might, have 
achieved for the Confederacy the most brilliant success that 
ever adorned her arms. 

But this expedition of Early "was not barren of practical 
results. About the middle of July he recrossed the Poto- 
mac, laden with the rich spoils of the enemy. It was 
reported that he brought with him five thousand horses and 
tvventy-five hundred beef cattle. He also created a useful 
diversion, and compelled General Grant to weaken his army 
materipvlly before Petersburg. Though he accomplished all 
thir, he was not forgiven at the South for the opportimity 
lost for an assault upon Washington. 

After crossing the Potomac he gave the enemy another 
severe lesson. He was pursued by the Federal General 
Crook, with about fifteen thousand infantry and cavalry. 
At a short distance from Winchester Early turned ujDon 
him, drove him twelve miles beyond Winchester, and 
thoroughly routed him. His entire loss was sixty men. 
14 



314 LIFE IN RICHMOND IN 1864 

Crook confessed to a loss of one thousand killed and 
wounded. 

After this there ensued a pause of some weeks in the valley 
campaign, broken only by a raid of Confederate cavalry to 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in which, for a refusal of sup- 
plies to the invader, McCausland's brigade burned a con- 
siderable portion of the town. Although retaliation is 
understood as an equivalent in warfare, this act, though 
considered justifiable, gave little pleasure to the Southern 
people. By it the North was horrified, and loud and 
revengeful were the cries. "Tit for tat" is not always 
regarded as a good rule. 



CHAPTEE LXn. 

LIFE IN RICHMOND IN 1864. 

BOSTON has been facetiously termed the "Hub of the 
Universe." Richmond, without undue assumption, 
could style itself the "Hub of the Confederacy." Never 
was her spirit more buoyant than over the results of the 
various campaigns of the summer of 1864. Peace and inde- 
pendence seemed dependent only on the endurance of the 
Southern people. Of that they had already given the most 
indubitable evidence. 

So long had the camp-fires glowed around Richmond — 
so long had we breathed the sulphurous vapors of battle — 
so accustomed had our ears become to the dread music 
of artillery — so signal had been our deliverance from the 
most elaborate combinations for the capture of our city, 
that more surely than ever before we felt at this time that 
our Confederate house was built " upon a rock." 

We were practically solving a curious question, and one 
which most nearly involved the vital interests of the pop- 
ulation of the city of Richmond. So enormous had become 



LIFE m EICHMOND IN 1864 315 

the expenses of Ihing tliat the question liacl grown to be 
one of moment : " On what can we subsist that will furnish 
the greatest amount of nutriment for the least amount of 
money ?" In our social gatherings the war topic was most 
frequently varied in the discussion of rich dishes, and the 
luxurious tables of .days of yore. Sometimes would arise 
the question: "I wonder if we shall ever see the like 
again ?" Often were we forcibly reminded of our former 
discontent and dissatisfaction with the luxuries under which 
our tables then groaned, when we contrasted them with 
the severe and simple scyle to which we were now compelled 
to submit. Yet w^e sipped our Confederate tea, swallowed 
quickly our confederate coffee, (frequently without sugar,) 
dined on fat bacon and Indian peas, and took our dessert 
of sorghum-syrup and corn bread, with as much cheerful- 
ness and apx^arent relish as we formerly discussed the rich 
viands on the well-filled boards of the old Virginia housewives. 

Richmond was growing rusty, dilapidated, and began to 
assume a w^ar-worn a]Dpearance. Very few of the buildings 
had been brightened by a fresh apphcation of paint since 
the commencement of hostilities, and where a plank fell off 
or a screw got loose, or a gate fell from its hinges, or a 
bolt gave way, or a lock was broken, it was most likely to 
remain for a time unrepaired; for the majority of our 
mechanics were in the field, and those left in the city were 
generally in the emj)loyment of the government, and we 
were forced to wfJt for a needful job, until pa^tience would 
become almost exhausted. 

The fashion for dress would have seemed absurdly simple to 
the fashionable belle of New York, yet despite the" rigor of 
the blockade, the latest mode would now and then struggle 
through in Godei/s Lady's Booh, or Frank Leslie's Maga- 
zine, or Le Bon Ton, and when Richmond was disclosed to 
the gaze of the outer world it was found that even the " w^ater- 
fall" had worked its way through the " lines" to the heads 
of the fair ladies of the rebel capital. We were not so 
much behind the times as might have been supposed from 



816 LITE IN PJCIIMOND IN 1864. 

the sympathetic article that appeared in one of the journals 
of our Northern friends, which stated that the women of 
Richmond flaunted in the rich but weU-worn silks in use be- 
fore the war, but that they were minus shoes and hose, and 
perambulated the streets with their feet "wrapped in rags!" 
We were never barefooted, although at this time a pair of 
ladies' boots could not be purchased for less than one hun- 
dred and twenty-five dollars, and this price at a later period 
was thought to be very moderate. When we .consider the 
times, we may say our stores were pretty well stocked with 
goods, such as they were, but at prices marvellous to con- 
template, even in Confederate money. 

The summer's work at the hospitals in the year 1864 
commenced in all its fullness early in May, after the battles 
of the Wilderness. It was attended with multiplied disadvan- 
tages, owing to the increased scarcity of provisions. The 
sick, mutilated and miserable, as ever before, uttered warm 
expressions of gratitude. " This last remark is hazarded, 
though a matron in a Confederate hospital has written as 
follows: "There is little gratitude felt in a hospital, and 
none expressed. The mass of patients are uneducated men 
who have lived by the sweat of their brow, and gratitude is 
an exotic planted in a refined atmosphere, kept free from 
coarse contact, and nourished by unselfishness. Common 
natures look only with astonishment at great sacrifices, and 
cunningly avail themselves of them, and give notliing in 
return, not even the satisfaction of allowing one to suppose 
that the care exerted has been beneficial; — that would entail 
compensation of some kind, and in their ignorance they 
fear the nature of the equivalent which might be demanded." 

Without desiring to create an issue with the excellent and 
accomphshed matron, pardon may be craved for venturing a 
most unquahfied dissent from her views. Gratitude can- 
not truly be said to be an exotic, needing the nourishment 
of refinement and cultivation. It is indigenous, rooted in 
all the nobler instincts of humanity, a growth directly eman- 
ating from the goodness and purity of Grod, illustrating 



LIFE IN KICKMOKD IN 1864. 817 

and embellishing tl'ie iieart, despite adventui'ous or fortuitous 
circumstances. Moreover there is understood in the remark 
a direct reflection upon the rank and file of our army — the 
usual class of patients in Confederate hospitals. This every 
woman of the South should feel prepared to resent, when it 
is remembered that these helpless unfortunates were her 
• defenders, her protectors, the slender thread upon which 
her hopes were hanging, and that the few attentions 
bestowed on them in hospitals were a very meagre and dis- 
satisfying equivalent for the sacrifices, the miseries, the 
wretchedness endured by them. 

Oh, no! we cannot forget the rough grasp of the horny 
hand, the eye brightened by the glistening tear, the manly 
lip quivering with emotions which surcharged the noble soul, 
or the feeble voice whispering " God bless you !" for simple 
acts of attention that duty dignified into pleasure, and that 
pleasure exalted into duty. If ingratitude was ever evinced, 
let sensitive and exacting natures admit the instances were 
not general, but exceptional and individual. 

Early in June, the officers' hospital in the Baptist Female 
College buildings was infected with pyaemia — the most mahg- 
nant disease which can attack the wounded — a malady for 
which no specific has ever yet been found, and from which 
many more died than from the wound itself. In this disease 
the virus that should be discharged by suppuration is dis- 
seminated through the circulatory system, causing chills, and 
soon death supervenes. For awhile this hospital was a char- 
nel house, and it was found necessary to remove the patients 
to the city alms-house, after which the disease disappeared, 
and our hearts were more rarely sickened by the sight of 
mihtary funerals through our streets. Still death did not 
cease its revels in our hospitals. This was evidenced by the 
continually enlarging dimensions of our cemeteries, and the 
multipHcation of mounds that marked the soldiers' graves. 

It is generally conceded that the medical interests of the 
Confederacy were judiciously managed. Our Surgeon-Gen- 
eral, Dr. Moore, as heretofore remarked, was an exacting 



318 LIFE IN RICHMOND IN 1864. 

and conscientious officer, and few men who passed the Con- 
federate ordeal came out so nearly blameless. In the examin- 
ing Board of Surgeons he was assisted by the most eminent 
and accomplished medical men of the South, and no applicant 
for commission as surgeon was permitted to receive it until 
after passing a thorough, examination, and had thus proven 
to the Board his qualification for office. 

Prominent, we may say at the head of this Board, was the 
lamented Dr. Charles BeU Gibson, whose skill in his profes- 
sion was rarely equalled in this country, and whose broad 
benevolence and thorough penetration admirably fitted him 
for his position. "We may also notice as belonging to the 
Examining Board, Dr. Peticolas, of the Kichmond Medical 
College, acknowledged to be of superior skill and talent in 
his profession; while all attached to this responsible body 
were men of undoubted integrity, and pre-eminent medical 
information. 

The most efficient coadjutors of the surgeons, and those 
to whom next the gratitude of the soldiers was justly due, 
were the noble matrons and nurses of the Richmond hos- 
pitals. Yet, strange to say, some of the surgeons seemed 
envious of, or impatient towards them. However, from the 
testimony of the poor sufferers themselves, we may with 
propriety assert where one owes his life to a skillful surgical 
operation, or judicious medical treatment, a dozen owe their 
lives to the patient and careful nursing of woman.* 

Nor in this connection must we omit to notice the noble 
body of chaplains who followed the army on its marches and 
countermarches, and ministered to the spiritual wants of the 
soldiers. The camp and the hospital were frequently the 
scenes of sublimely touching religious exercises. Doffing 
the clerical vestments, many of the chaplains donned the 
uniform of the soldier, and were distinguished only by the 



* We have before noticed tlie names of some women illustrious for their deeds of 
charity, and to this list we will respectfully add that of the accomplished and gifted 
Mi's, Pember, who long presided as chief-matron at Chimborazo Hospital. 



LIFE IN RICHMOND IN 1864. 819 

simple cross of " gold lace " on the sleeve of the' coat or 
jacket. Conspicuous among them, though not strictly occu- 
pying the position of a chaplain, was the Reverend General 
Pendleton, who at the commencement of the war was rector 
of a parish in Lexington, Virginia. In Richmond, promi- 
nent in their efforts for the spiritual good of the soldier, we 
may name the Reverend Doctor M. D. Hoge, Reverend Mr. 
Peterson, and Reverend Mr. Duncan, Christian ministers. 

The inhabitants of Richmond were very closely confined 
to the city, not only by the active duties of benevolence, 
which absorbed so much of their time, means, and talents, 
but frequently by the actual impossibility of travel. "When 
we summoned the courage to run the risks that a passage 
upon our insecure railroads involved, the trip was usually 
accomphshed between the raids in which tracks were torn 
up, bridges burned, and other damage done as a means of 
capturing the city. 

Our delightful watering-places, which had formerly been 
favorite resorts of the Southern people, for health or pleas- 
ure, were most of them closed up, or occujoied as hospitals, 
or otherwise, for war purposes. However much the system, 
relaxed or depressed by long confinement to the hot impure 
atmosphere of the city, needed the bracing and healthy in- 
fluence of the mountain air, and the healing waters, our 
situation was such that if we dared to travel fifty or a hun- 
dred miles, we might be cut off, and subjected to nameless 
inconveniences and troubles in getting back to our homes. 
"While the war lasted, the most of us were fixtures in Rich- 
mond. We ventured outside the city lunits o^ly when the 
skillful manoeuvring of our army made it possible to go with 
a certainty of being able to return when we desired. The 
fi'esh fruits and vegetables, pure milk and butter, and the 
various other luxuries and comforts to be found in the coun- 
try served to tempt us, who subsisted on the meagre supplies 
of our markets; and when an opportunity offered, we gladly 
availed ourselves of the chance for rusticating in the quiet, 
delightful country. 



820 LIFE IN PJCHMOND IN 1864. 

The tide of exiles and refugees wliicli set toward Eicli- 
mond from the commencement of the war, continued until 
its close. Notwithstanding the repeated attempts to cap- 
ture it, those di'iven from their homes crowded into the 
capital. Their stories of terror and distress were generally 
concluded with the exclamation, " Oh, we are too happy in 
getting to Eichmond ! It is after all the safest place in the 
Confederacy!" 

Where to quarter the refugees, had long been a question 
of serious importance. From the second year of the war, 
the floating population quite equalled, if it did not exceed 
in numbers the resident inhabitants. Every influx of these 
•unhappy wanderers occasioned grave consideration as to 
where they might find resting places, and the means of live- 
lihood. There were few hotels, and boarding-houses might 
then have been counted on the fingers. The Spotsw^ood 
Hotel, the American and the Powhatan, were all of the larger 
hotels then open for public accommodation; and so enor- 
mous were expenses at those places, that very few of the 
miserable refugees, who had been compelled to fly from 
their homes of ease and comfort, could afford the luxuiy of 
living in them. Lodgings were hired which seemed of 
india-rubber capacity, from the numbers frequently packed 
in them, and to tell of the contingent expenses of house- 
keeping at this time would sound like stories of wildest 
fable. 

We were frequently awakened from a temporarj^ dream of 
quiet and security, by the sudden ringing of alarm bells, 
occasioned often by only a reconnoissance of the enemy, but 
of a character sufiiciently threatening to call out our forces 
for local defence, which consisted mainly of the battalion of 
government clerks under Major Henly, and the battalion of 
armorers and artisans from the government work-shops. 
After several days of absence, they would be ordered to re- 
turn to the city, generally .without having participated in 
any engagement. 

After the explosion of the mine at Petersburg, there was 



BOTH SECTIONS TIRED OF WAH. 32 i 

quiet on tlie Eiclimond Hnes during the remainder of the 
summer, broken only by a demonstration at Bottom's Bridge, 
in August, which, in practical results, was scarcely of suffi- 
cient importance at that period of the war to deserve notice. 
But our trials were becoming daily more and more severe, 
and we looked forward with shuddering apprehensions to 
the aproaching winter. 



CHAPTER LXin. 



BOTH SECTIONS TIRED OF WAR— THE NEGOTIATION AT NIAGARA 

FALLS ^VISIT OF COLONEL JACQUES TO RICHMOND THE CHI- 

• CAGO CONVENTION. 



T 



iHE failure of General Grant's campaign in "Virginia, 
__ and the stand-still of General Sherman had awakened 
in the North the most clamorous demands for peace. 
These desires, cherished in the public heart, found express- 
ion through the press. Peace was the ultimatum of the 
wishes of the South. The last Confederate Congress had 
published a manifesto that asked only immunity from inter- 
ference. " Let them forbear aggressions upon us and the 
war is at an end. If there be questions which require ad- 
justment by negotiation, we have ever been wiUing, and are 
still wiUing to enter into communication with our adversa- 
ries in a spirit of peace, of equity and manly frankness." 

In the month of July some attempts at negotiation were 
undertaken by Messrs. C. C. Clay and Jacob Thompson, 
who, associating with them Mr. George Sanders, suddenly 
appeared as Southern commissioners at Niagara Falls. There 
they obtained the intermediate assistance of Mr. Horace- 
Greeley, to negotiate for an interview with Mr. Lincohi in 
order to ascertain on what common ground they could pos- 
sibly treat for the much desired end. It ended futilely, 
like aU • simHar attempts. Mr. Lincoln did not appear; but 
dispatched a reply addressed " To whom it may concern," 



822 BOTH SECTIONS TIRED OF WAE. 

and signified uneqmvocaJly, that the Union witli tlie posi- 
tive and unconditional abandonment of slavery were indis- 
pensable conditions of peace. 

In striking contrast was the notice bestowed on the en- 
voys dispatched by General Grant, with permission of the 
Confederate authorities, to meet Colonel Quid, the Confede- 
rate Commissioner of Exchange. These two, ColonelJacques, 
of the 73d Illinois Infantry, and J. R. Gillmore, were 
brought, by Colonel Quid, into the presence of IVIr. Davis. 
They were treated by him with marked courtesy and re- 
spect, and he discussed with them frankly and politely, the 
leading questions of poHtical dissension. It is said Colonel 
Jacques arrived in Richmond attii^ed in a large hnen duster, 
but he had no sooner confronted the President of the Con- . 
federacy, than he threw off the garment and disclosed his 
rank, and insignia in the Federal army. 

It seemed that these persons had not a single proposition 
to offer, but they succeeded in adroitly and insidiously ob- 
taining from Mr. Davis a thorough exposition of his views 
and designs, of which, says an account, " They carried back 
a long story to the Yankee newspapers, and made no httle 
capital out of their visit to Richmond by sensations in the 
Northern periodicals, and itinerant lectures at twenty-five 
cents a head." 

It was mortifying to the Southern people to contrast the 
difference behween the unmerciful snubbing received by their 
commissioners from President Lincobi with the courtesy 
and distinction with which Mr. Davis received the envoys 
extraordinary of General Grant. Its influence on the pub- 
lic mind, the compromise of dignity which it comprehended, 
can well be understood in the language of another, who thus 
jiotices it: " The more intelligent and worthy portion of the 
Confederate public, were greatly wounded in their pride by 
the behavior of their authorities on the peace question. 
Many of these persons had, since the very commencement 
of the war, insisted on the futility and impropriety of essay- 
ing to open any special negotiations with the enemy on 



BOTH SECTIONS TIRED OF WAE. 323 

peace. There were tlie many distinct avowals of tlie purpose 
of the war on our side, in the declarations and acts of the 
government, invariably protesting our simple desire to be 
let alone, which were abeady a clear and standing tender 
of peace. The issues could not be made more distinct or 
more ui^gent than in the official record. Why, they argued, 
should we go beyond it, by attempts at kitchen conferences, 
which might not only be insolently rebuffed by the enemy, 
to the damage of our self-resi^ect, but which, as experience 
had so far shown, were invariably misintei-preted, and not 
without plausibihty, as signs of decadence and weakness in 
our military affairs. True, proud and intelligent persons 
in the Confederacy were as anxious for peace as those who 
were constantly professing their devotion to this end. But 
they considered that the honor and seK-respect of their 
countrymen, had been lowered by devious and unworthy 
attempts at negotiation. Having once announced the terms 
of peace sufficiently, they judged they would do right, while 
awaiting the overtures of the enemy, not to betray their 
anxiety, or open any unnecessary discussions on the sub- 
ject. And there could be no doubt of the sufficiency of 
those announcements." 

"While the North cried "peace !" peace was echoed at the 
South, but when the North proclaimed " Union," the heart 
of the South rephed-" Independence !" 

In reply to a letter from Governer Vance of North Caro- 
lina, alluding to the political discontent in that state, and 
suggesting an effort at negotiation with the enemy, which 
might appease the malcontents, and if unsuccessful inten- 
sify the war feeling — as early as January, 1864, Mr. Davis 
wrote : 

•' We have made three distinct efforts to communicate with the author- 
ities at Washington, and have been invariably unsuccessful. Commis- 
sioners were sent before hostilities were begun, and the Washington 
government refused to receive them or hear what they had to say. A 
second time I sent a military officer with a communication addressed by 
myself to President Lincoln. The letter was received by General Scott, 
who did not permit the officer to see Mr. Lincoln, but promised that an 



324 BOTH SECTIONS TIEED OF WAR. 

answer would be sent. No answer has ever been received. The third 
time, a few months ago, a gentleman was sent, whose position, charac- 
ter, and reputation were such as to insure his reception, if the enemy- 
were not determined to receive no proposals whatever from the govern- 
ment. Vice President Stephens made a patriotic tender of his services, 
in the hope of being able to promote the cause of humanity; and al- 
though little hope was entertained of his success, I cheerfully yielded to 
his suggestion that the experiment should be tried. The enemy- 
refused to to let him pass through their lines or to hold any conference 
with them. He was stopped before he reached Fortress Monroe, on his 
way to Washington. To attempt again (in the face of these repeated 
rejections of all conferences with us) to send commissioners or agents to 
propose peace, is to invite insult and contumely, and to subject ourselves 
to indignity, without the slightest chance of being listened to. 

"I cannot recall at this time one instance in which I have failed to 
annoTince that our only desire was peace, and the only terms which 
offered a sine qua non, were precisely those which you suggested, namely, 
'A demand only to be let alone.* But suppose it were practicable to 
obtain a conference through commissioners with the Government of 
President Lincoln, is it at this moment that we are to consider it desira- 
ble, or even at all admissible.* Have we not just been apprised, that we 
can only expect his gracious pardon by emancipating all our slaves, 
swearing allegiance and obedience to him and his proclamation, and be- 
coming in point of fact, the slave of our own negroes. " 

The Niagara Falls negotiation, and the Jacques-Gillmore 
embassy served to sensibly weaken the confidence of the 
Southern people in the strength of their government. We 
were at this time, watching, with the most anxious solici- 
tude, the movements of the Democratic party at the North, 
in reference to the peace question. They were expected to 
be developed in a more practical direction in view of the 
approaching Presidential election. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago, 
ULinois, on the 29th of August. In the platform there 
adopted, notwithstanding its protestations of attachment to 
the Union, the South understood an evident acknowledg- 
ment of the independence of the Confederate States. Gen- 
eral George B. McClellan v/as the nominee for President, 
upon the Chicago j)latform. In an eminent degree, General 
McClellan commanded the confidence and respect of the 



BOTH SECTIONS TIRED OF WAR. 825 

Southern people; and had men alone, and not measures, 
been involved in the election, there is not doubt the voice of 
the South would have been substantially in favor of his 
election to office, inasmuch as the party represented by him 
were the avowed friends of the South, in her most vital 
interests. 

With the majority, the desire for McClellan's election 
was intense, although in comparing the two adverse wings 
of the Democratic party, known as the "War Democrats " and 
the " Peace Democrats," the Republicans were considered 
by many to be more certainly friends of the South, than the 
Democrats, who advocated the prosecution of the war. 

In reference to the final acknowledgment of Confederate 
independence, as understood in the platform of the Chicago 
Convention, an intelligent and sagacious Southern author 
says: "It was proposed perhaps to get to this conclusion 
by distinct and successive steps, so as not to alarm too much 
the Union sentiment of the country. The first step was to 
be the proposition of the ' Union as it was ' in a convention 
of the States; if that was voted down, then the proposition 
of a new principle of federation, limited to the foreign rela- 
tions and to the revenue; if that was rejected, then the 
proposition of an inter-confederate Union to preserve as far 
as i^ossible, by an extraordinary league, the American pres- 
tige; and, if all these propositions, intended as tests of the 
spirit of the South, were to fail, then, at least, the independ- 
ence of the Confederate States, under the sine qua non, was 
to be conceded by the Democratic party of the North, as the 
last resort of pacification, and one of the two alternatives 
where their choice could no longer hesitate. In short it 
appeared to be the design of the Democratic party to get 
the North, on the naked issue of the war and separation. 
* * * Why the programme broke down is explained al- 
most in a word. The military events which took place 
between the date of the Chicago Convention and election 
day, put upon the war a more encouraging aspect for the 
North, and with these changes the Democratic party 



826 . THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE. 

abandoned ground whicli tliey took professedly on principle, 
but really on the mean considerations of expediency and 
time-serving-. The fact was, that all party changes in the 
North since the war, might be said to be constantly accom- 
modating themselves to the course of military events. After 
the Chicago Convention, the peace party moved inversely 
with the scale of military success, and as that mounted in 
Northern opinion, it fell, until, as we shall see months later, 
it almost approached zero." 

But at this period we of the Confederacy dreamed not 
that we were on the very eve of disasters which would so 
effectually neutralize the successes of the summer cam- 
paigns as to work the change of sentiment understood in 
the remarks we have quoted. We little thought that the 
friendly intentions of the Democratic party of the North, 
which advocated the independence of the South, were on 
the point of being overthrown by the mismanagement or 
misfortune of the military operations of the Confederates. 
But it was even so. 



CHAPTEE LXIY. 



THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE THE FALL OF ATLANTA THE FALL 

CAMPAIGN AROUND RICHMOND. 

MOBILE was valuable to the Confederacy as one of the 
principal ports for the blockade-running business. It 
was also a nursery of the Confederate navy, where vessels 
were built for the purpose of raising the blockade- Hence 
it became an object of extreme desire on the part of our 
enemies to get possession of Mobile Bay. As soon as ope- 
rations on the Mississippi permitted the detachment of a 
sufficient co-operating military force, an expedition for this 
purpose was fitted out, and on the 5th of August Admiral 
Farragut passed the forts and closed the harbor of Mobile. 
But in the meantime we had experienced a reverse, beside 



THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE. 827 

wliich the affair in Mobile Bay was almost forgotten or over- 
looked. The events of the Georgia campaign were indeed 
" to put a new aspect on the war ; to annihilate the peace 
party in the North, to give a new hojDe and impetus to the 
enemy, and to date the serious and rapid decline of the 
fortunes of the Confederacy." 

General Johnston's position at Atlanta was as secure as / 
that of General Lee at Petersburg, and judging by the '^ 
superior skill and energy he had displayed in the conduct 
of the forces under his command, fi'om the beginning of 
the war, we were led to expect that he would at least effec- 
tually hold Sherman in check, as General Lee was holding 
Grant. He could easily have done that, and if he had suc- 
ceeded in destroying Sherman's communications he might 
have compelled a disastrous retreat to Tennessee. 4 

At midsummer we beheld both campaigns of the enemy 
essentially failures. Could the military situation which then 
existed have been preserved, the election of McClellan to 
the Presidency of the United States would have been 
secured, and a peace negotiation, that would have placed 
the South in a different status, might have been, effected. ^ 

But these bright prospects were changed in a day. / 
Whether from a desire to gratify popular clamor, or other 
causes at best imperfectly understood. General Johnston, 
who was then executing the masterpiece of strategy of the 
war, with a perfection of design and detail which delighted 
his own troops and challenged the admiration of his enemy 
— who had performed the prodigy of conducting an army 
in » retreat over three hundred miles of intricate country 
without loss in prisoners or material, was removed. It was 
a dark day for the Confederacy, and the pubHc hardly 
regarded this act with leniency. But it is undeniable there 
were some insane enough to inveigh against the strategy of 
General Johnston, and to cry continually for a "fighting 
man" — one not given so entirely to "brilliant retreats." 
Well, indeed, might General Scott's remark have been 
heeded : " Beware of Lee's advances and Johnston's re- I , 
treats !" .^ 



328 THE FALL OF ATLANTA. 

After General Hood was placed in command of the army, 
there were a number of engagements, from the 20th of July 
until the 1st of September. On that day the struggle for 
the " Gate City " came to an end. Atlanta fell into the 
hands of the enemy, and the Confederacy took the first sig- 
nal step in its downward road to ruin. 

Shortly after the fall of Atlanta it was declared that cer- 
tain leading men of Georgia, among whom were included 
Governor Brown and Vice-President Stephens, were in 
favor of the withdrawal of the State fi'om the Confederacy, 
and that negotiations to that effect had been opened with 
General Sherman. This report arose from the fact that a 
Mr. King had brought to Governor Brown a message to the 
effect that he would be pleased to confer with him and oth- 
ers upon the state of the country, with a view to the settle- 
ment of the difficulties, and would give him a pass through 
the Federal lines, going and returning, for that purpose. 
To this the Governor replied that he, as Governor of a State, 
and General Sherman, as commander of an army in the 
field, had no authority to enter upon negotiations for peace. 
Georgia might, perhaps, be overrun, but could not be sub- 
jugated, and would never treat with a conqueror upon her 
soil. That while Georgia possessed the sovereign power to 
act separately, her faith had been pledged by implication to 
her Southern sisters, and she would not exercise this power 
without their consent and co-oi3eration. She had entered 
into the contest knowing all the responsibilities which it 
involved, and would never withdraw from it with dishonor. 
" She will never," he said, " make separate terms with the 
enemy which may free her territory fi-om invasion and leave 
her confederates in the lurch. Whatever may be the opin- 
ion of the people as to the injustice done her by the Con- 
federate administration, she will triumph with her Confede- 
rate sisters or she will sink with them in common ruin. 
The independent expression of condemnation is one thing, 
and disloyalty to our common cause is another and quite a 
different thing. If Mr. Lincoln would stop the war, let 



THE FALL OF ATLANTA. 829 

him recognize the sovereignty of the States, and leave each 
to determine for herself whether she will return to the old 
Union or remain in her present league." 

Vice-President Stephens defined his position in an elabo- 
rate letter, in which he declared that the only solution for 
our present and future troubles was "the simf)le recognition 
of the fundamental principle and truth upon which all 
American constitutional liberty is founded, and upon the 
maintenance of which alone it can be jDreserved — that is, 
the sovereignty — the ultimate sovereignty — of the States." 
In conclusion he wrote : "AH questions of boundaries, 
confederacies, and union or unions, would naturally and 
easily adjust themselves according to the interests of 
parties and the exigencies of the times. Herein Hes the 
true law of the balance of power and the harmony of 
States." 

The fall of Atlanta was a severe blow to the Confederacy, 
and was received in Richmond with unconcealed distress. 
INIr. Davis was sensibly affected by this misfortune. Toward 
the close of September he made a visit to Georgia, and 
delivered a remarkable speech at Macon. He told the peo- 
ple that it grieved him to meet them in adversity, but that 
he considered the cause not lost — that sooner or later Sher- 
man must retreat, and then would he meet the fate that 
befell Napoleon in his retreat from Moscow. 

The reinforcement of Hood's army was a question of the 
utmost importance ; but where the reinforcements were to 
be obtained was another question of equal significance. 
From the army of General Lee none could be sent, for in 
Virginia the disparity in numbers was as frightful as in 
Georgia. The army of Early, that guarded the Valley, was 
absolutely necessary to prevent the enemy from gaining 
possession of Lynchburg. After a consultation with Gen- 
eral Lee on all these points, Mr. Da^ds's conclusion was : 
"If one half of the men now absent from the field would 
return to duty, we can defeat the enemy. With that hoj^o 
I am now going to the front. I may not realize this hope, 



830 FALL CAMPAIGN AKOUND TJCHMOND. 

but I know that there are men who have looked death too 
often in the face to despond now." 

The spkit and temper of Mr. Davis was encouraging, and 
served in a great measure to restore confidence. We looked 
forward with the greatest anxiety for the fruits of the coming 
campaign, which we were promised would re^Dai"): our recent 
disasters. Even then, in Richmond there were those of 
superior prescience who openly predicted the end as it came. 
"We would not hsten to them ; we flouted the idea of down- 
fall ; we called them "croakers." Our vain-glorious confi- 
dence had not yet received a check so signal as to destroy 
all hope. 

The fall campaign of the enemy was unusually active. On 
the 28th of September a demonstration was made on the 
Richmond Hues, against the works on Chaffin's farm, in suf- 
ficient force to awaken the deepest interest. On the 29th it 
was evident to us that a most terrific battle was raging. We 
had never heard peals of artillery in more rapid succession, 
or more continuously for hours. The flashes from the 
pieces were plainly distinguishable from exposed points in 
the city. The evening brought to us the intelligence of the 
capture of Fort Harrison, which commanded a position 
below Drewry's Blufi", and constituted the main defence at 
that point. 

The enemy then attempted the capture of Fort Gilmer, 
but were fearfully repulsed. General Field, who arrived 
with his division just prior to the attack upon Fort Gilmer, 
favored an attempt to retake I'ort Harrison that evening, 
before the enemy could have time to strengthen his position, 
but being overruled in his opinion, the attack was deferred 
until the succeeding day, the 30th, when the main attack 
failed, but the Confederates succeeded in retaking a redan 
in the left of the fort, which so protected their left flank as 
to neutrahze the loss of the main defence. 

On the 6th of October a desperate engagement occurred 
on the Charles City road. It resulted in the repulse of the 
enemy ; but in it the Confederates lost the brave and chiv- 



Sheridan's campaign in the valley. 381 

alrous General Gregg, of Texas, who fell at the head of his 
troops, j)ierced through the neck by a Minnie ball. 

Thus one by one our bravest and best were falling, like 
stars from the Confederate firmament. Whenever tidings 
came of the -clash of arms in sanguinary conflict, we laid 
our hands upon our hearts until we could hear, "Who" is 
dead?" 

After an interval of a month from the time of the capture 
of Fort Harrison, another engagement occurred, on the 27th 
of October, on the Williamsburg and Boydton roads, which 
led into Eichmond. The Federals were repulsed at all 
points, and it was the last demonstration made by them on 
the lines south of Pdchmond before the re-election of Mr. 
Lincoln, which it was doubtless designed to facihtate. 



CHAPTER LXy. 



Sheridan's campaign in the valley — naval losses — re-election 
of mr. lincoln arming of slaves. 

IN the meantime, success had crowned the Federal arms 
in a quarter heretofore unknown to us, and where it was 
least expected. In the Valley of Yirginia, General Early 
was in command of the Confederate army. His first battle 
with General Sheridan occurred on the 18th of September, 
at Opequan Creek, of the result of which the latter tele- 
graphed to Secretary Stanton as follows : " I have captured 
one entire regiment, officers included." 

On the 19th, an engagement occurred near Winchester, 
It was a fiercely contested battle, and was lost to the Con- 
federates by the unaccountable misbehavior of their cavalry 
•when victory seemed ready to perch upon the Confederate 
banners. 

In our losses was numbered the intrepid General Ehodes, 



882 SHERIDAN S CAMPAIGN IN THE VALLEY. 

than whom no young officer in the Confederate army had 
won a more enviable reputation. 

The disaster of this defeat, unexpected as it was, was sen- 
sibly felt and painfully acknowledged by the Conferate public. 
General Early fell back to Fisher's Hill, eighteen miles from 
Winchester and seventy-two from Staunton. This position is 
considered by military men the strongest in the Valley of 
Virginia. On the 22d of September, Sheridan brought up 
his entire force to assault him in his position at Fisher's 
Hill. An account of this battle says : " The works were too 
formidable to be carried by an attack on the front alone, and 
therefore while keeping up a feint of a fiont attack, the 
Eighth Corps was sent far to the right, and sweeping about 
Early's left, flanked him and attacked him in the rear, driving 
him out of his intrenchments, while the Sixth Corps attacked 
him at the same time in the centre front, and the Nineteenth 
Corps on the left. Confused and disorganized by attacks at 
so many different points, the Confederates broke at the cen- 
tre and fled in disorganization towards Woodstock. Artil- 
lery, horses, wagons, rifles, knajDsacks, and canteens were 
abandoned and strevni along the road. Several hundred 
prisoners and twelve pieces of artillery were captured. The 
pursuit was continued until the 25th, and did not conclude 
until Early had been driven below Port Repubhc." 

This second reverse, the news of which was entirely unex- 
pected and surprising, caused increased despondency in 
Bichmond. Though not so serious nor so extensive as 
accounts from the enemy indicated, it was quite sufficient to 
awaken alarm and misgiving. The harvests of the Shenan- 
doah Valley had been lost, and the most productive districts 
of Virginia opened to the waste and desolation of the 
enemy. 

It is said that General Sheridan was either ordered or 
avowed his intention to so devastate this section of Virginia 
that, " The crows in flying over should be compelled to 
carry their own rations." How nearly this was fulfilled is 
shown by the charred ruins visible at every step over this 
beautiful region. 



833 

This success at Fislier's Hill involved the capture of Staun- 
ton, with the loss of all the storehouses, workshops, and \ 
other buildings there connected with the Confederate gov- 
ernment. 

After devastating the Valley, General Sheridan retired 
northward to' Woodstock, where he made his headquarters. 
On. the 9th of October he had an affair with Eosser's cavahy, 
which had hung on his rear. In this engagement Sheridan 
claimed to have taken eleven pieces of artillery and over 
three hundred prisoners. His dispatch to the War Depart- 
ment in Washington was that he had " finished the savior 
of the Valley, and had pursued the worsted Confederates on 
the jump for twenty-six miles."* 

StiU another disaster was to be the crowning misfortune 
of this ill-starred campaign. General Early again advanced 
to Fisher's Hill. On the 18th of October he came out of his 
intrenchments and attacked the enemy at Cedar Creek. So • 
completely were they taken unawares, that at ten o'clock on 
the morning of the 19th two-thirds of Sheridan's army 
were routed, and nothing was left them but to cover their 
disorderly retreat. But, as a published account says, " there 
our troops stopped. There was no more rushing, no more 
charging. They had betaken themselves to plundering the 
enemy's camp; demorahzation was fast ensuing, the fire and 
flush of their victorious charge was quenched, the fighting 
was now at long range, the infantry was pushed forward at a 
snail's pace, then there was no longer ardor or enthu- 
siasm." f 

Tn the meantime the enemy were not idle. General 
Sheridan slept at Winchester the preceding night, and on 
hearing of the disaster to his forces at Cedar Creek, mounted 



* A young officer of tlie Confederate Army, a correspondent of tbe author, wrote in 
reference to the retreat from Fisher's Hill: " Compared with our flight from Fisher's 
Hill, the Yankees at Bull Eun didn't run at all." 

t Our correspondent before alluded to says : " We lost the day by the insane search 
for plunder. Some of our men seemed to forget their honor as soldiers iu the mad 
hunt for Yankee gimcracks and the spoils of the enemy's camp." 



834 SIIEEIDAI^'S CAMPAIGN IN THE VALLEY. 

his horse, and pushed to the scene at full gaUop. He imme- 
diately ordered a new line of battle. At three o'clock he 
assumed the offensive. Attacking our plundering and demor- 
alized forces, they were soon shamefully routed. Never 
before had our troops behaved so badly. An account of it 
says, " Our loss in kiUed, and wounded, and prisoners, was 
perhaps not greater than three thousand, but the route of the 
retreat was strewn with abandoned wagons, ambulances, and 
small arms, thrown away by the panic-stricken fugitives." 

General Early lost nearly all his artillery, and indeed 
received so stunning a defeat that his army never recovered 
from it, and the Valley campaign ere long ceased to absorb 
so great a portion of public interest. It was not, however, 
abandoned, but the engagements after that time deserved 
only the name of skirmishes, through a course of some 
weeks, until late' in the winter, when the affair at Waynes- 
boro assumed the proportions of a battle. 

"Troubles never come alone, but in battalions." The 
truth of this proverb was experienced by us in our Confed- 
erate history. While we were mourning our reverses on 
land, misfortune settled on our naval interests. If these 
were not of such, importance as to awaken serious appre- 
hension, they were at least of sufficient magnitude to afford 
exultation to our enemies. 

On the 7th of October the Confederate privateer, " Flor- 
ida," while at anchor in the port of San Salvador, on the 
coast of Brazil, was attacked by the Federal steamer 
"Wachusett," and captured. So unexpectedly did this 
occur, that at the time the commander and a portion of the 
crew were on shore, httle dreaming that in this manner the 
laws of neutrahty would be so violated. 

A few weeks after this, the formidable ram "Albemarle " 
was destroyed in the Eoanoke River. This was accom- 
plished by running a torpedo boat upon the ram at her 
wharf, and sinking her by the explosion of a torpedo, in the 
darkness of the night, on the 27th of October. 

The destruction of the "Albemarle" left Plymouth de- 



Sheridan's campaign in the yalley. 335 

fenceless. On tlie 31st that place was taken by tlie Fede- 
rals, and they succeeded in re-estabhshing their supremacy 
in the Sounds of North Carolina. 

The military successes of our enemies in the last two 
months had decided the Presidential election, and wrought 
a second triumph for the Republican party. The hopes of 
peace that animated the Democrats at the North went down 
in darkness, and the South was forced to look only to an 
indefinite prolongation of hostilities, and to further revolve 
the question of endurance. Early in November the Confed- 
erate Congress reassembled in Richmond. Mr. Davis's mes- 
sage was hopeful and encouraging. He deemed that the 
clouds which then dimmed the Confederate skies might and 
would be dispelled, in the spirit of patriotic determination 
that had all along sustained the people of the South. He 
declared the Confederacy had no " vital points," that though 
our principal strongholds might be captured, no peace 
would be made which did not recognize our independence. 
He recommended the repeal of aU laws granting exemption 
fi-om military service, and appealing to the patriotism and 
just sense of duty in the people, he said : " No position or 
pursuit should relieve any one who is able to do active duty 
from enrollment in the army." Upon the question of arm- 
ing the slaves of the South, after carefully noting its rela- 
tive bearings, he remarked : " The subject is to be viewed 
solely in the light of pohcy and of our poHtical economy. 
Should the alternative ever be presented of subjugation or 
the employment of the slave as a soldier, there seems to be 
no reason to doubt what then should be the decision." 



hood's campaign in TENNESSEE. 



CHAPTEE LXVI. 

hood's campaign in TENNESSEE SHERMAN's MARCH THROUGH 

GEORGIA — CONFEDERATE DESERTIONS. 

WHILE reflecting minds at the North were calculating 
how long the South could withstand the gigantic 
forces prepared for its subjugation, the people of the South 
expected to retrieve their disasters in the projected cam- 
paign of Hood. We had not long to wait. 

On the 18th of September Mr. Davis arrived at the head- 
quarters of General Hood, and in the evening delivered to 
the troops an encouraging address. To General Cheatham's 
Tennesseans he said : " Be of good cheer, for in a short 
time your faces will be turned homeward, and your feet 
pressing Tennessee soil." General Hood was enthusiasti- 
cally called for. . He said : " Soldiers, it is not my province 
to make speeches. I was not born for such work ; that I 
leave to other men. Within a few days I expect to give the 
command "Forward!" and I believe you are, like myself, 
willing to go forward, even if we live on parched corn and 
beef. I am ready to give the command forward this very 
night. Good night." 

On the 29th of September Hood commenced his march. 
We cannot follow him through his course of strategy against 
Sherman, but will notice him next on the 29th of Novem- 
ber, after two months, with thousands of his men within 
sight of theu' own homes, on the soil of their native State, 
driving the enemy before him into their intrenchments at 
Franklin, Tennessee. On the succeeding day, without giv- 
ing them time to strengthen their works, he attacked them. 
General Thomas commanded the Federal army at this point. 
Hood knew that Thomas would endeavor to hold the old 
line of Nashville, Murfreesboro' and Frankhn, and he felt 
that if he could fight the battle of Nashville at Franklin 
with success, Nash\dll^ would once more be surrendered 
to the Confederates, Tennessee be given up, and the war 



hood's campaign in TENNESSEE. 337 

transferred to tlie Ohio. The fighting was fierce and ter- 
rible. Our troops behaved with a gallantry unsurpassed in 
any former engagements. Never before had our officers 
displayed more courage or determination. With reckless 
gallantly they exjDosed themselves, and the loss in general 
officers was unequalled in any battle of the war. 

General Pat. Cleburne, who has been styled the " Stone- 
wall Jackson of the West," fell pierced through the head 
by four bullets, and died on the ramparts. A description 
of this battle says : " General Gist, previously wounded in 
the leg, had refused to leave the field, limping along on foot, 
cheering his men, and finally received a ball through the 
breast, killing him instantly. Brown, Manigault, Johnston 
and Stahl, and scores of field and staff officers, who had 
exposed themselves at the head of their troops, were either 
killed or wounded. Still our men faltered not." 

The resistance was stubborn, but finally the enemy were 
forced to retreat into Nashville, and General Hood pro- 
ceeded to invest the city. On the 2d of December h^ laid 
siege to Nashville. While Hood was intrenching himseK, 
Thomas was largely reinforced, and on the 15th of Decem- 
ber (after several consultations with his officers) he deter- 
mined to attack both flanks of Hood's army. 

The results of the first day's engagement were not such 
as to dispirit the Confederate troops. • On the follo'^dng day 
the attack was renewed. All assaults of the enemy were 
repulsed up to three o'clock in the afternoon; when General 
Hood thought he had abeady his grasp on a splendid vic- 
tory, a sudden stampede took place in one of his divis- 
ions, and the day was lost in a moment. 

It was considered a most .disgraceful retreat. Hood lost 
fifty pieces of artillery and all of his ordnance wagons, and 
the utter demolition of his army, shattered and demoralized 
by the panic, was prevented only by the want of -v^gor dis- 
plaj^ed by Thomas, in his failure to pursue them. 

Hood finally made his escape across the Tennessee River 
at Florence with the remnant of his army, having, lost, from 
15 



338 hood's campaign in Tennessee. 

various causes, more tlian ten thousand men, half of his 
generals, and nearly all his artillery. He was at Tupelo 
on the 6th of January 1865; and on the 23d resigned the 
command of his army to General Joseph E. Johnston, whose 
reinstatement was- demanded by the Confederate Congress 
and by public clamor. 

The news of the failure of this campaign filled Richmond 
with despondency, and was unmercifully commented upon 
by the Richmond press. 

But other, and more serious trials awaited us. While the 
Tennessee campaign had resulted in defeat, we were des- 
tined to experience disasters in Georgia, more fatal to the 
Confederacy than any previous misfortune. 

Before undertaking his great campaign, Sherman ordered 
the destruction of the most inhabited portion of Atlanta, 
and left behind him a picture of ruin and desolation, such 
as is seldom found in the ravages of war. On the 15th of 
November he began his march to the sea. This he accom- 
plished leisurely and almost unimpeded. With the excep- 
tion of one or two small conflicts with Wheeler's cavalry, 
and some few militia men and conscripts, he was unopposed 
until, within ten miles of Savannah, he encountered a force 
of skinnishers which indicated, for the first time the pres- 
ence of the Confederate forces under Hardee. 

On the 10th of December he lay in line of battle, confronting 
the outer works of Savannah, about five miles distant from 
the city. Seeing that it was necessary for him to open com- 
munication with the fleet, he attacked Fort McAllister, the 
most formidable earthwork which guarded the entrance 
to the city. So formidable was the attack that resistance 
was useless and the fort was surrendered. 

The surrender of the city was now only a question of 
time. From the 10th to the 16th of December heavy artil- 
lery firing and skirmishing went on along the lines, but 
no regular engagement occurred. On the 16th Sherman 
demanded a surrender of the city, from its commander, 
General Hardee, who declined on the next day to accede to 



hood's campaign in TENNESSEE. 839 

the demand. Sherman then hurried more heavy siege 
guns upon the hues, and on the 20th was prepared to bom- 
bard the city and assault its works. But Hardee had taken 
the alarm, and resolved to evacuate Savannah. On the after- 
noon of the 20th he opened a tremendous fire from his bat- 
teries and iron-clads, and under cover of this demonstration, 
he marched his army from the city and secured his httle 
band of fifteen thousand men from capture. 

On the morning of the 21st of December, it was formally 
surrendered by its mayor, to General Geary of Sherman's 
command. The Confederate troops were gone. The navy- 
yard, two iron-clads, many smaller vessels, and a vast 
amount of ammunition, ordnance stores, and supphes had 
been destroyed before the evacuation, but all the rest of the 
city fell uninjured in to the hands of the enemy. Sherman 
sent a characteristic dispatch to Washington, and to Presi- 
dent Lincoln he wrote: 

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannali, with 
one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." 

The fall of Savannah greatly increased the despondency 
in the Confederacy. Calculations of failure now took the 
place of calculations of success in the minds of many. The 
morale of the Georgia troops in the army of Northern Vir- 
ginia was unhappily affected by it, and desertions became 
frequent amon^'hem. They seemed unable to endure sepa- 
ration from their families, placed in such cruel distress by 
the devastations of the enemy that ravaged the territory of 
Georgia. The people began to count the cost of the sacri- 
fices of the war and to estimate the terrible depletion that 
had taken place in the armies of the Confederacy during the 
campaign of 1864. The causes of this extraordinary deple- 
tion can easily be made apparent. During the year that 
was fast drawing to a close, the prosecution of the war 
against us had been more vigorous, a greater number 
of severe battles had been fought; and consequently the 



34:0 THE WINTEK OF 1864-5. 

casualties "had been more numerous. There were in our 
armies, as in all large armies, a great number of stragglers ; 
and as our situation grew more unbappy, and provisions for 
the sustenance of soldiers more scarce, desertion was most 
unworthily encouraged by our enemies. But a reason more 
powerful still, may be found in the persistent refusal of the 
enemy's government to exchange prisoners. 

Simultaneously with the fall of Savannah the intelligence 
was received that the salt-works at Saltville in the Kenawha 
Valley, had been recaptured, and other misfortunes had 
attended the small but not unimportant campaign in South- 
western Virginia. 

Ill- tidings had now been borne to us in long-continued, 
and rapid succession. Sorrow had deepened its shadows in 
our hearts. But our faith in the justice of our cause, sus- 
tained us in the belief that these were no more than pass- 
ing clouds, to be dispelled ere long by the sunshine^of suc- 
cess. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 



THE WINTER OF 1864-5 WANT OF FUEL AND PROVISIONS ^RO- 
MANCE PRICES. 

WE were now in the midst of winter — the cheerless 
season to which we had looked forward with dread. 
It was the fourth year of the war. The festivities of Christ- 
mas were rendered mournful by the fall of Savannah, and 
the demolition of hopes which had trusted in that city, as a 
stronghold which could not be taken. With saddened 
mien we turned our stejos towards the sanctuaries of God. 
On this occasion our praise and thanksgiving were blended 
with fasting and prayer, with deep humiliation and earnest 
contrition. 

We left the temples of the Most High, and wended our 



THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 341 

way back, many of us, not to the luxurious homes, where 
once the festival was gladdened by the reunion of loved 
ones, but to the humble, contracted lodgings which were all 
that remained to us, to call "home." Instead of the sump- 
tuous banquet, around which we were wont to gather, we 
sat down to the poverty-stricken board. We counted again 
the vacant chairs, and glanced with eyes blinded by tears, 
upon the sombre living of woe, that indicated whither had 
been borne our domestic idols. 

With a brave attempt at cheeriuhiess, we decked our 
dwellings with the evergreen, cedar, arbor-vitae, and holly, 
ond here and there, under the magical influence of the kind 
old patron saint of the holiday, the Christmas tree once 
more reared its cheery head, laden with a precious and 
incongruous burden of bon-bons and simple toys. 

The New Year was ushered in with no better prospects. 
If there was no foreboding of the coming wreck of our 
coveted independence, we could at best only look forward 
to an indefinite continuation of the dire evils which had 
shrouded our land in sorrow and misery. Day by day our 
wants and privations increased. The supply of provisions 
in the city of Richmond was altogether inadequate to the 
demand, and generally of a quality that would have been 
altogether unappetizing in seasons of plenty. Every fresh 
encroachment of the enemy increased this scarcity, and in 
a proportionate ratio, the prices at which articles of food 
were held. There was also a great want of fuel. Those 
formerly accustomed to well-heated houses, where comfort 
and luxury presided, now parsimoniously economized with a 
single ton of coal, or a single cord of wood to insure its last- 
ing as long as possible, lest, when the last lump, or the last 
stick was consumed, no more could be obtained at any price. 

In addition to our other miseries, robberies were fearfully 
on the increase. The fortunate possessor of a well-stocked 
larder or coal house was in constant danger from burglary. 
It finally became an almost universal fashion in Rich- 
mond to permit "every day to take care of itself." It 



342 'THE WINTER OF 1864-5 

was useless to lay up for the morrow, or to anticipate the 
rise in x:»rices and provide against it, for the cunning house- 
breakers were still better at calculation, and would ever 
upset the best laid schemes by their successful midnight 
depredations. 

During the war the "rebel capital" became famous for 
the large number of beautiful ladies who belonged to the 
city, or who found within its friendly walls refuge and secu- 
rity. While the god of war thundered from its ramparts, 
not less busy was the artful boy-god. As usual, the gos- 
sips thoroughly acquainted themselves with Cupid's victo- 
ries. Ever and anon these quid nuncs whispered of inter- 
esting affaires de coeur, in which were associated the names of 
gallant officers and soldiers of our army and of the fair and 
beautiful belles of the capital. That they reckoned not with- 
out their host was made evident from the unusual number 
of weddings that were celebrated during this winter. St. 
Paul's seemed to be the fashionable church for the solemni- 
zation of these hapjDy bridals. It appeared indeed that 
many a fair young girl was only 

*' Doffing her maiden joy ousness, 
For a name and for a ring." 

ere long to cherish the memory of the early loved and the 
early lost in the grave of the soldier. But the true sentiment 
of the heart of Southern women found expression in the 
language of a noble daughter of Virginia, who, when she 
buckled the armor on her patriot husband, remarked, "I 
had rather be the widow of a brave man than the wife of 
a coward." 

Of the numerous marriages which served as fruitful 
digressions from the war topic, and brightened the usual 
gloom that hung over the social circles of Kichmond, we 
will mention j)articularly only one, rendered of thrilling 
interest from all the associations connected with it. In 
January, the brave, gallant, and chivalrous young Major- 
General Pegram, of Richmond, led to the altar the fairest 



THE WINTER OF 186^5. 843 

of the fair — tlie universally acknowledged queen of society — 
the beautiful and accomplished Miss C. A dense throng 
crowded the church to witness the nuptials of the popular 
young officer and his magnificent bride. Sincere congratu- 
lations were pressed upon fhem, and they set forth on their 
matrimonial route with the brightest prospects for happi- 
ness, and sustained by the prayers and best wishes of num- 
berless friends. 

Three weeks had only passed when on the field of Hatch- 
er's Eun this young officer — this happy young husband — 
was cut down. Death, remorseless, cruel Death, claimed the 
warrior bridegroom, and the snowy robe of the bride, the 
orange wreath, and the misty veil, which had shaded, yet 
heightened her splendid beauty, were exchanged for the weeds 
of the widow, the sable robe of the heart's deepest afflic- 
tion. 

It is noticeable in connection with the scarcity of food and 
the • high prices, that the class usually know as the poor, 
was not the class which experienced the most serious incon- 
venience, and was reduced to the most dreadful misery. 
They were pro^dded by the Common Council of the city with 
such staple articles of food as could be obtained, and in a 
quantity sufficient to secure them from sufi'ering. They had 
furnished to them rations of corn-meal, sorghum syrup, and 
small quantities of bacon and flour. Starvation to them was 
not imminent, and the pauper class were indeed in more com- 
fortable circumstances than persons who lived on salaries, or 
depended upon a moderate income for support.* 

Salaried officers with families dependent upon them found 
it extremely difficult, with the constantly increasing prices, 
and the depreciation of the currency, to bring their expenses 



* In a conversation with a distingiuslied Southern divine, the rector of a once wealthy- 
parish, he said, "Butter is a luxury in which we rarely ever indulge, and fre- 
quently we are without sugar; and if there is not sickness in our family we 
manage to get on quite comfortably without the use of many things once con- 
sidered necessary." This system of philosophizing became a part of our war educa- 
tion. 



844 THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 

within the hmits of their income. In some instances we 
heard of those who subsisted solely on bread, and not enough 
of that to satisfy the cravings of hunger. But all this did 
not subdue the indomitable spirit of the people generally. 
The disaffected, if any such were discovered by signs of 
weakness and a failing spirit, were not of those whose bodily 
sufferings were greatest, but were found among unwise finan- 
ciers, who began to tremble for their own selfish interests in 
the fear that Confederate investments might not in the end 
pay very liberally. Sherman's operations in the South, and 
Sheridan's successes in the Valley of Virginia, began to 
arouse the apprehensions of extensive holders of Confeder- 
ate bonds, lest they had miscalculated and overshot the 
mark. 

" Croakers " now began to multiply, and murmurs of dis- 
satisfaction, deep but not loud, and mutterings of vexation 
and disap|)roval were sometimes heard from a certain class 
of malcontents, who, when the hght of prosperity shone on 
our arms, were the first to hail the Confederacy, but who, 
like the fickle and inconstant people of France, in the time 
of the revolution, were ready to veer with every change 
of the political weathercock, and possessed not moral cour- 
age enough to sustain them under the dark clouds and beat- 
ing winds of adversity. Like individuals, governments 
have their summer friends ; and though we are proud to 
know that these exceptions in the Confederacy were exceed- 
ingly>are, still we are forced to admit, and mourn that we 
are compelled to admit, they did indeed exist. 

Another and very obvious sign of weakness was the grow- 
ing want of confidence in our currency. The necessity for 
final repudiation was currently entertained ; and those who 
looked with certainty to the estabhshment of the independ- 
ence of the Confederacy, looked with equal certainty to the 
great financial crisis which must follow. Ruin, bankruptcy, 
and the multitudinous evils which follow in the train of all 
great political convulsions, were predicted. These "birds 



THE wmiiEE OF 1864-5. 845 

of ill omen " gave us to understand that thongli we might 
safely steer the Confederate vessel through Charybdis, dan- 
ger equally imminent threatened to leave her stranded on 
Scylla. But there were brave hearts that gave Httle heed 
to these warnings, and clung to the phantom of Hope that 
lured them, like the ignis fatuus, to the bogs and morasses 
of final and crushing disappointment. 

There was, however, a marked change visible in thfe gen- 
eral disrespect of the people for the circulating medium. 
This was evident in a reckless expenditure of money, and a 
disposition to indulge in extravagances, at whatever cost. 
The trousseau of a bride, which might formerly have been 
procured at an expense of a few hundred dollars, could now 
. only be purchased at the expenditure of -as many thousands ; 
yet there was no hesitancy manifested at this time to indulge 
in what a year before we might have considered reprehen- 
sible extravagance. As the result proved, if wanton expen- 
diture is, under any circumstances, to be tolerated, there 
was evinced much real wisdom in what might have seemed 
folly to tho prudent economist. It was simply a good invest- 
ment. 

The simplest wardrobe of a lady at this time was enor- 
mously expensive. For an ordinary caHco, for which we 
formerly paid twelve and a haK cents per yard, (a New 
York shilling,) we were forced to pay from thirty to thirty- 
five dollars. For an Enghsh or French chintz, the price 
was fifty dollars per yard. A nice French merino or mohair 
dress cost from eight hundred to a thousand dollars. A 
cloak of fine cloth was worth fi^om a thousand to fifteen hun- 
dred dollars. A pair of bahnoral boots for ladies brought 
two hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars. French 
kid gloves sold at from one hundred and twenty-five to one 
hundred and seventy-five dollars per pair. Irish hnens 
commanded from fifty to one hundred dollars per yard, and 
cotton cloth, of inferior quality, varied from thirty to fifty 
dollars per yard. We hardly dare trust ourselves to give 
the price of ladies' hats, but they varied, from the difference 



846 THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 

in quality and material, from six hundred to fifteen hundred 
dollars ; and all things else pertaining to a simple outfit 
commanded proportionate prices. 

While the industry and benevolence of our ladies were in 
no wise relaxed, there was a sensible disposition to a greater 
indulgence in dress. This may be accounted for, in many 
instances, by the threadbare condition of wardrobes, which 
had been made to suffice through the wear and tear of four 
years of privation and self-sacrifice, and could no longer 
resist the necessity for replenishment. 

Similar figures ruled the market for gentlemen's goods. 
"We cannot pretend to give the price of broadcloth or cassi- 
mere, or boots or gloves, etc., of a gentleman's wardrobe. 
Our men, however, (especially those connected with the 
army,) were reheved of a very heavy expense by being able 
to purchase of government stores at government prices, 
such articles as were absolutely necessary for them. A suit 
of new broadcloth, or a new hat, or other article of dress 
of extraordinary neatness, would be sure to subject the for- 
tunate wearer to the annoyances of the boys or soldiers on 
the street, who were wont to accost them in the slang of the 
army, with : " Come out of that broadcloth ! Come out of 
that hat!" etc. 

Our dry goods were now principally obtained through 
the blockade from Nassau. A very large capital was invested 
in this trade, and it was carried on successfully and at com- 
paratively little risk. The most important port to the Rich- 
mond market was Wilmington, North Carolina. But at the 
period which we are now noticing, (having in our narrative 
gone ahead of our military history,) this port was in the 
hands of the enemy ; and as the circle of our advantages 
gradually narrowed, the price of gold became higher and 
higher, and all articles of trade advanced in undue propor- 
tion. Day by day we congratulated ourselves on what we 
were fortunate enough to have, and were not forced to pur- 
chase of the remorseless tradesmen, who exhibited a pro- 
voking indifference to the sale of their wares, in striking 



CAPTUEE OF FORT FISHER. 847 

contiast to the patronizing anxiety with which they had for- 
merly courted custom. 

' ' Except wind stands as never it stood, 
It is an ill wind turns none to good. " 

In the month of February occurred one of the most 
awful casualties which had been remembered in Richmond 
since the burning of the Richmond Theatre in 1811. Dur- 
ing the night a fire originated in a block of buildings on 
Main Street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, the lower 
stories of which were occupied for store-rooms, and the 
upper stories for private dwellings. This fire, it seems, 
broke out in the lower story of the block, in the store of 
a Jew, who very soon succeeded in getting his goods 
safely out of reach of the flames. After the fire had pro- 
gressed to an alarming extent, it was ascertained that a 
family just above the store were still in the burning build- 
ing. They appeared at the windows, and the most extraor- 
dinary efforts were made for their rescue, but the sad story 
may be told in the heart-broken shout of the unhappy 
mother : " Too late !" In this awful manner six persons 
met death. They consisted of a father, a mother, a young 
and beautiful girl, who had just attained the age of 
womanhood, two young boys, and one negro servant. Their 
charred and half destroyed bodies were secured from the 
wreck of the burnt buildings on the follo^dng morning, and 
deposited in Hollywood Cemetery. A young soldier son, 
then in the field, is all that is left of the Stebbins family. 
This awful catastrophe sent a thrill of horror over Rich- 
mond. 



CHAPTER LXYIII. 



CAPTUEE OF FORT FISHER OCCUPATION OF WILMINGTON AND 

CHARLESTON END OF SHERMAN's MARCH. 

rN December an expedition had been fitted out to operate 
L a^-ainst Fort Fisher, which guarded the entrance to the 



848 CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. 

harbor of Wilmington. The principal attack occurred on 
the 24th of the month, and was completely and successfully 
resisted by the Confederates. A second expedition was 
undertaken in January, 1865, and resulted in the capture of 
the fort by the Federals. In a few days Wilmington was 
occupied without resistance, and General Bragg retired with 
his army of eight or ten thousand troops to the principal 
theatre of war in the interior of the Carolinas. 

Knowing that it would be useless, with his comparatively 
small forces, to attempt to hold Charleston, General Beau- 
regard prepared to evacuate that city. Before retreating, 
General Hardee made the destruction of all property belong- 
ing to the government as complete as time and opportunity 
would allow. On the morning of the 18th of February the 
enemy made a triumphal entree into the city. Charred and 
blackened monuments of the ravages of fire, scarred and 
mutilated buildings showing the woik of shot and shell, 
and the rude and terrible marks of war greeted the beholder 
at every turn. 

On the same day Columbia, the capital of the State of 
South Carolina, was occupied by General Sherman. After 
leaving Columbia, Sherman proceeded on his march north- 
ward. By the 11th of March he had reached and occupied 
Fayetteville, North Carolina, not, however, without a seri- 
ous conflict of his cavalry forces under Kilpatrick with the 
Confederate cavalry under General Wade Hampton. His 
onward advance was again checked by a small detachment 
of the Confederates under Hardee, at Averysboro', on the 
Cape Fear Kiver, about midv/ay between Kaleigh and Fay- 
etteville. In this engagement General Johnston telegraphed 
to Eichmond that the total Confederate loss was four hun- 
dred and fifty ; that of the Federals, thirty-three hundred. 
On the 19th of March occurred the engagement at Bolton- 
ville, by which General Johnston designed to prevent the 
junction of Schofield with Sherman. Though gaining, as 
he conceived, an advantage, he found it impossible to accom- 
plish his purpose, and drew o£f his forces in the direction 



MOEE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 349 

of Ealeigh. On the night of the 20th the enemy abandoned 
their works and moved on tov/ards Goldsboro'. 

On the 22d of March Sherman pubHshed in Goldsboro' a 
congratulatory address to his troops, in which he said : 
" After a march of the most extraordinary character, nearly 
five hundred miles over swamps and rivers deemed impas- 
sable to others, at the most inclement season of the year 
and drawing our chief supplies from a poor and wasted 
country, we reach our destination in good health and con- 
dition." 

After disposing of his army in his camp at Goldsboro', 
Sherman hastened to City Point for an interview with Gen- 
eral Grant and President Lincoln, which gave rise in Eich- 
mond to talks of a " peace negotiation," but, as the result 
proved, was for anything else. 



CHAPTEK LXIX 

MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS GOVERNMENT APPEAL FOR FOOD. 

TT^HILE Sherman was prosecuting his triumphal march 
V \ through a portion of our territory, the minds of the 
people of Eichmond were encouraged to hope fi*om certain 
demonstrations, that, like ourselves, our enemies were grow- 
ing heartily tii-ed of the war, and were willing to make over- 
tures for an honorable and peaceable adjustment of the diffi- 
culties which distracted, and had already brought such ruin 
on the country. 

In January, Mr. Francis P. Blair of Maryland made seve- 
ral visits to Eichmond, which occasioned much curiosity 
and speculation in the public mind. He came with a pass 
from Mr. Lincoln, but the objects of his mission were not 
committed to paper. They were, however, soon developed. 
After some preHminaries, in which a short correspondence 
was entered into, by the rival presidents, it was decided that 



350 MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

the Confederate Government should, send commissioners to 
confer witli Mr. Lincoln, as to what terms could be expected 
from him, and what agreement might be entered into, to 
effect a peaceable adjustment of existing difficulties. Mr. 
Lincoln signified his willingness to receive ambassadors 
regularly authorized to negotiate for the restoration of peace 
to the people of our " common country." In consequence 
of this notification Mr. Davis requested Vice President 
StejDhens, Senator K M. T. Hunter and Judge Campbell to 
pass through the lines and hold a conference with Mr. Lin- 
coln, or such individuals as he might depute to represent 
him. 

They met at Fortress Monroe. The result of the inter- 
view was that no terms were agreed upon. President Lin- 
coln positively refused to listen to any proposal that had in 
view a suspension of hostihties, unless based upon the dis- 
bandment of the Confederate forces. He refused to enter 
into any negotiation on any other basis than " unconditional 
surrender." 

' The hopes of peace that had been for a long time enter- 
tained were thus effectually crushed. The expectations of 
the majority, as to what would be the result of this confer- 
ence, were fully realized. 

Every avenue of peace now being closed, except such as 
might be conquered by our arms, a fresh attempt was made 
to rally the people to a determined war feeling. A mass- 
meeting of the citizens was called at the African Church. 
Business was suspended, stores were closed, and thorough 
interest in the action of the hour was manifested. Eloquent 
addresses were delivered; patriotic appeals were made; a 
spasmodic enthusiasm was enkindled. But despondency 
rested too heavily on the hearts of many to permit more 
than a momentary and convulsive effort to shake off the in- 
cubus. Strange terms now began to be in use. With 
"evacuation," to which we had listened as a vague proba- 
bility, for four years, were intermingled the words, " sub- 
mission, surrender, subjugation, reconstruction," indicating 



MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 



851 



ideas hitherto unknown in the Confederacy, or if enter- 
tained, certainly not bruited abroad. 

To those who reflected on our situation in all its bearings, 
though it was evidently desperate and discouraging, there 
seemed no necessity for subjugation. We earnestly looked 
forward to the spring campaign. We rehed on the grand 
old Army of Northern Vii'ginia to retrieve the reverses of 
the last few months, and to Hft the Confederacy from the 
*' Slough of Despond." 

The Confederate Congress had passed a bill extending 
the conscription to slaves. It was a desperate measure, and 
was vigorously combated. It was a question which in- 
volved intricate and subtle interests, and was made the 
subject of careful and laborious legislation. Doubts enter- 
tamed as to whether the negro could be made efficient as a 
soldier, were silenced by the use made of him in the Federal 
army. General Lee favored the employment of negroes in 
the service; the Eichmond press had recommended it since 
the fall of 1864; and the majority of inteUigent and patriotic 
minds at the South inclined to beheve in the usefuhiess of 
the measure. Almost at the eleventh hour of its session. 
Congress passed the biU, hedged by certa^i limitations, and 
made dependent to a certain extent on the wiU of the mas- 
ter, authorizing the employment of slaves in the mihtary 
service. 

Eecruiting offices were opened in Richmond, and soon a 
goodly number of sable patriots appeared on the streets, 
clad in the grey uniform of the Confederate soldier. Their 
dress-parades on the Capitol Square attracted large crowds of 
all colors to witness them, and infused a spirit of enthusiasm 
among those of their own race, that served daily to increase 
the numbers of those who were willing to fight.* 



* An enthusiastic female slave one day said to her master, " The very next time I 
meet General Lee on the street, I mean to shake hands with him." 

" You had better be careful," repUed the master, " you might find a place m Castle 
Thunder for your presumption." ^ , r. a 

"No, oh no ; he won't send me there," she answered, "for when I do shake hands 



852 MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

By examination of a secret committee of tlie Confederate 
Congress, the Confederate Commissariat was discovered to 
be in a shamefully low condition, and under the supervision 
of Commissary General Northrop, celebrated as much for 
his want of judgment as for his contempt of advice, there 
seemed little prospect for its improvement. Various schemes 
were devised for procuring supplies for the army, with 
but slender probabiUty of accomplishment, under the ob- 
stinate control of Commissary Northrop. 

Kichmond wg-s now almost destitute of provisions. Nor- 
throp was removed, and St. John appointed Commissary 
General, and the following appeal " To the people of Vir- 
ginia " was put forth : 

RiCHMOKD, February 22d, 1865. 

Fellow Citizens : Commissary General St. John, at his recent entrance 
upon the duties of his bureau, invited several gentlemen of this city, 
including a number of clergymen, to a conference as to the best means 
of increasing the supplies of food necessary for the subsistence of the 
Army of Northern Virginia. At this conference, the undersigned were 
appointed as a committee to prepare and issue an address to the loyal 
people of the State, for the purpose of placing before them such facts, 
and of making such suggestions as will, it is confidently believed, ensure 
a general and hearty^o-operation in this great and necessary work. 

You are aware, fellow-citizens, that the movements of the enemy in 
South Carolina and Georgia have interrupted our communications with 
the Southern States, and seriously embarrassed the operations of the 
Subsistence Department, so that immediate and energetic action on the 
part of the Government and the people is demanded for the support of 
the army. 

It is ascertained that the supply of food in the accessible counties of 
North Carolina and Virginia is ample for the subsistence both of soldiers 
and citizens. Of the four modes of obtaining it for the use of the army, 
viz. : by impressment, purchase, loan, and voluntary contribution, it is 

with him, I am going to tell him that aU I'm soiTy for is, that I have not got ten sons 
to give him to fight for the Confederacy." 

Her master, amused, commended her for her patriotism. The same negress, at the 
time of the occupation of Richmond by the Federal troops, secured from the -wi'eck of 
some of the dry-goods stores a lot of gentlemeu's collars, which she carefully preserved, 
■ to send, as she said, — " Just as soon as I get a chance " — as a present to President 
Davis. Even to this day, this poor woman avows the most unquahfied devotion to 
the memory of the Southern Confederacy. 



MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 853 

believed that when the exigency, now existing, is clearly understood, the 
last mentioned method will be the one most approved by the people, and 
therefore the one which will command the most cheerful, immediate, 
and generous aid on their part. 

The resources of the people have already been severely taxed. Vast 
quantities of food have already been obtained by impressments, loans, 
and voluntary contributions. But for these extraordinaiy efforts our 
armies would have long since been disbanded, and without a continua- 
tion of these efforts, our soldiers cannot accomplish the task yet before 
them. Apart from all those considerations of honor and duty, which 
most constrain high-toned and patriotic men, these liberal contributions 
©n the part of citizens are necessary to the preservation of their own 
rights of j)roperty and personal safety. Interest itself demands any and 
every sacrifice necessary to prevent subjugation. 

On this point, one testimony will be sufficient. Virginians and pa- 
triots all over the Confederacy will regard with explicit belief and pro- 
foundest respect any statement on such a subject emanating from our 
beloved General-in-chief, Eobert E. Lee. In reference to the very ap- 
peal we are now making, he writes; 

"I cannot permit myself to doubt that our people wiU respond to it, when they re- 
flect on the alternative presented to them. They have simply to choose whether they 
will contribute such commissary and quartermaster stores as they can possibly spare 
to support an army which has already borne and done so much in their behalf, or re- 
taining their stores, maintain the army of the enemy engaged in their subjtigation. I 
am aware that a general obligation of this nature rests lightly on most men — each be- 
ing disposed to leave its discharge to his neighbor — but I am confident that oui' citizens 
win appreciate their responsibihty in the case, and will not permit an army which, by 
God's blessing and their patriotic support, has hitherto resisted the efforts of the 
enemj'', to suffer now through their neglect." 

Such being the emergency, and the corresponding obligation, it only 
remains now to consider the best practicable means of attaining the end 
in view. 

There is in every county accessible to us in the State an officer or agent 
of the Bureau of Subsistence, charged with the duty of collecting, by pur- 
chase or otherwise, army subsistence, and forwarding the same to this 
city. It is also proposed to appoint two or more gentlemen of influence, 
energy and intelligence, in each county, (who shall appoint others in 
each magisterial district.) to call the attention of every family to the 
wants of the army, and to urge them to contribute in some way as large 
a portion of their supplies as can possibly be spared. These contribu- 
tions can be made as donations, sales or loans, at the option of the 
owner, and the supplies so obtained, will be sent to some convenient 
point to be indicated by the local officer, where he will receive and re- 
ceipt the same, and give the parties, when required, an obHgation in 
kind or in currency. 



854 MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

But, as already intimated, there are difficulties in the way of obtain- 
ing supplies either by purchase or by loan, which can be best overcome 
by the spontaneous and free-will offerings of the people, generously con- 
tributing of their substance for the support of the army now battling and 
suffering in their behalf. 

For the information of those who desire to aid the cause by voluntary 
contributions, we beg leave to state that the following plan has been 
considered and approved by the authorities; 

1. Let every citizen who can, pledge himself to furnish the rations of 
one soldier for six months, without designating any particular soldier as 
the recipient of the contribution. 

2. Let those tlius pledging themselves furnish, say 80 pounds of bacon 
and 180 pounds of flour, or their equivalent in beef and meal, to be de- 
livered to- the nearest commissary agent. 

3. Let the donor bind himself to deliver one half of the amount above 
stated, viz. ; 40 pounds of bacon and 90 pounds of flour (or its equiva- 
lent) IMMEDIATELY, and the remainder at the end of three months, unless 
he prefers to adopt the better plan of advancing the whole amount 
pledged at once. 

4 Let the pledge of each individual subscribing and furnishing the 
vations of one soldier»for six months be made the basis of larger sub- 
scriptions. Those whose generosity and whose means will enable them 
to do so, may obligate themselves to provide the rations of five, ten, 
twenty, or any other number of soldiers for six mouths ; while even the poor, 
who could not afford to supply the rations of one man, by uniting their 
contributions may authorize one of the number, so combining, to make 
the designated subscription of at least one ration for one man for six 
months. 

We trust that this plan, so intelligible and so easily put in execution, 
will commend itself to thousands of our patriotic people who, by reason 
of age, sex, or infirmity, cannot serve in the field, wiU yet take pride and 
pleasure in being represented in the field in the persons of soldiers whose 
rations they themselves furnish. 

On this subject. General Lee expresses the opinion that almost every 
one who has a fiimily, especially among our farmers, could afford to 
support one more in addition to his present number, and that this plan 
will not require a man to do more than to send to a soldier what he 
would always be able to give in the way of hospitality to such soldier, 
were he an inmate of his house. 

The scheme thus explained presents a system which may be contract- 
ed or expanded according to the ability of the contributor — not exclud- 
ing the poor, and giving scope to the largest liberality of the rich; and 
in fact, presents a plan for securing all the food in the country which 
can be obtained by voluntary contribution. 



MOKE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 855 

And now in order to carry it into immediate execution, the co-opera- 
tion of the legislators, magistrates, ministers of the gospel, and aU per- 
sons of influence and standing in every county is earnestly invoked. The 
cause is one which makes its own appeal to fathers and mothers who 
have sons in the army; to men of wealth who have large possessions to 
protect; to men in humble circumstances, to whom the Uberties of their 
country are equally dear; to all classes in the community, whose security 
and happiness are involved in the issue of this struggle for the right of 
self-government. Every right-minded, and right-hearted man must feel 
that citizens in their comfortable homes, exempt from the privations 
and perils of the field, should be willing to exercise the severest self- 
denial, if necessary, that the army to which, under God, we are indebted 
for pur present safety, and to whom we must owe our final deliverance 
from the presence and the power of the enemy, should at least be sup- 
plied with the food which is essential to the vigorous health and com- 
fort of its soldiers. A claim so reasonable and just must and will be 
satisfied. 

And now, in concluding our appeal to you, feUow-citizens, we do not 
forget that Virginia has already suffered sorely in this straggle to obtain 
all that is dearest to the patriot's heart. The bloody tide of battle has 
swept over almost every portion of her territory; the sacrifices, as well as 
the services of her sons have been great; yet the spirit of her people has 
never-flagged, nor are her resources exhausted. She has hitherto res- 
ponded nobly to every call the Confederate Government has made upon 
her: and it is not doubted that now, when made aware of its present 
wants, her people will prove themselves both able and willing to relieve 
them. 

Moses D. Hoge, J. L. Buekows, 

John E. Edwards, Chas. Minnigeeode, 

M. J. Michelbacher, W. J. Pettigeew, 

Thos. W. McCance, E. Edmond. 

Samuel J. Haeeison, 



The harmony of this session of the Confederate Congress 
was disturbed by unfortunate recrimination between that 
body and Mr. Davis. The latter was accused of being self- 
willed and intractable; the Confederate Legislature evinced 
a spirit of captious ness and impatience. 

It was during this session that a member of this body 
attempted to escape to Washington. The excitement pro- 
duced by his flight did not assume the character of a "nine 
days' wonder" in Richmond, and was the occasion of 



356 MORE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

ridicule ratlier tlian indignation. Before its adjournment 
the Confederate Congress published an address, which 
served in a measure to inspirit the despairing, and to con- 
firm the hopeful, although there is abundant reason to be- 
lieve that they considered the reassembling of their body in 
Richmond in the light of a bare possibiUty. 

An important change had taken place in the Cabinet. 
Under the pressure of strong outside- disapprobation, and 
against the remonstrances of Mr. Davis, Mr. Seddon, the 
Secretary of War, had resigned, and General Breckinridge 
had been appointed to the position. This appointment was 
popular, and frora the character of the new Secretary, the 
people were induced to hope for and expect a more judicious 
management of the War Department than had been exer- 
cised by his predecessor. 

We had now passed through the winter. The first month 
of spring had been ushered in. We felt that the approach- 
ing campaign, which was expected to open very early in the 
season, whether it terminated in favor of or against us, 
would conclude the war. This opinion, which was freely 
expressed, seemed rather the result of intuitive conviction 
than of extraneous evidence. 

The exalted moral and religious character of our men in 
authority served greatly to encourage our belief in the coun- 
tenance of the all-wise Ruler of human affairs. Not a lew of 
us love to recall the scenes at St. Paul's Church on the first 
Sabbath day in March, when the monthly celebration of the 
Lord's Supper was observed. The communicants had gen- 
erally approached, partaken of the sacred symbols, and 
retired from the chancel, when President Davis, General 
Lee, and Secretary Trenholm came forward and knelt before 
the sacramental table. The house Was solemnly quiet. Not 
a sound was heard save the low, sweet voices of the priests. 
All hearts were impressed, and silently called down benedic- 
tions on the heads of the kneeling men. They retired from 
the chancel. In a few moments the sublime strains of Glo- 



FOEEBODINGS OF DISASTER. 857 

ria in Excelsis floated up from heart and lip, from clioir and 
organ. It seemed indeed as if that house of God was the 
very gate of Heaven. Many of us left the holy place with 
impressions time can never efface, and in the fullness of 
trust, asked, "Can the Almighty forsake a people whose 
God is the Lord?" Alas] in one short month our idols of 
hope were shattered by the rude iconoclasm of despair. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

FOREBODINGS OF DISASTER SHERIDAn's GREAT RAID AND HIS 

JUNCTION WITH GRANT. 

VARIOUS rumors were now afloat in Richmond which 
should have convinced any people that " evacuation " 
was not improbable. Yet there were no more definite indi- 
cations of such an event than had existed frequently before. 
We had long been under depressing influences, and we felt 
that the sx^irits of the people were gradually bending to the 
stern destiny of defeat. But the fire of resistance was not 
yet extinguished. We were not blind to a certain weakness 
that had developed itself; still we trusted to the latent 
spirit which, though we mourned that it slumbered, was not 
dead. We did not feel that it would require an Herculean 
effort to shake off our lethargy. We had seen how much 
had been done; we beheved there was in us the power to do 
much more. 

Towards the latter part of February, Sheridan again pro- 
ceeded up the Valley of the Shenandoah. As we have before 
noticed, in advance of our narrative, a battle occurred at 
Waynesboro' between his forces and those of General Early, 
resulting in the rout of the Confederates; Early himself 
barely escaping capture. Sheridan then crossed the Blue 
Ridge, and occui)ied Charlottesville. This village is the seat 



358 FOEEBODINGS OF DISASTER. 

of tlie Virginia University, the principal institution of learn- 
ing in the South, and for the abihty of its corps of instruc- 
tors, and for educational advantages, ranks below none in 
this country. From the imposing and peculiar style of 
its architecture, this cherished pet of Mr. Jefferson's later 
years, situated in the midst of the most beautiful and roman- 
tic scenery, as it bursts first upon the vision of the beholder, 
presents a picture of enchanting loveliness. 

A memorable remark is quoted of General Sheridan in 
reference to this institution. He is said to have been asked 
why he did not destroy the University of Virginia, and was 
reminded that such had been the intention of Hunter, had 
he succeeded in capturing Charlottesville. " I wish to live 
on the pages of history," replied this illustrious officer. 
This is not given as indisputably authentic, and it must be 
hoped that a nobler principle and motive actuated him than 
merely a weak desire for posthumous notoriety; and, en pas- 
sant, it may not be amiss to regret that he seems lately to 
have strangely forgotten the promptings of that nobler inner 
heart, in his ungenerous treatment of the unconscious re- 
mains of a distinguished enemy, in those of General Albert 
Sidney Johnston. 

After the capture of Charlottesville, Sheridan divided his 
forces and proceeded on a gigantic and destructive raid * in 
two different directions, and finally brought his forces into 
junction with the Army of the James. While no one can be 



* The writer of these sketches acknowledges her indebtedness to General Sheridan 
for the last letter that reached her hand in the Sonthern Confederacy. It was an object 
to overhaul the mails in these predatory incursions. In the one that fell under hostile 
exajnination at Frederickshall, in Louisia County, Virginia, there was a billet-doux 
addressed to her by a young Mississippian who had only very lately been released 
from capti^ity at Point Lookout. It detailed a touching story of disappointment in an 
affaire ae C(£ur, toT which he pleadingly asked the sympathy of his friend, saying: 
" To you alone I commit this record of my troubles — for your eyes alone this missive 

is intended." It reached her " Read, approved, and respectfully forwarded to 

by Colonel Sherman, by order of General Sheridan." She does not confess to great grat- 
itude t6 General Sheridan, however, as it is peculiarly disagreeable to have one's corres 
pondence subjected to inquisition. It may not be uninteresting to learn that this young 
son of Mars was finally consoled by the hand of his lady-love. 



OPEKATIONS OF GRANT AND LEE. 859 

SO prejudiced as to willingly withhold from General Sher- 
idan the meed of praise for skillful and brilliant general- 
ship, for perseverance and success, which his superior. Gen- 
eral Grant, generously avows was a powerful auxihary to his 
own success, it is equally true that the Confederate forces 
in the Valley were destined to encounter numbers so greatly 
superior that the principal element of success in the opera- 
tions of Sheridan in that section of Virginia, may without 
doubt be found in the numerical weakness of the enemy that 
opposed him. As General Early has since declared : " I 
was leading a forlorn hope, and the people can appreciate 
the character of the victories won by Sheridan over me." 



CHAPTER IZSXI. 

OPERATIONS or GRANT AND LEE FALL OF PETERSBURG. 

ON the 6th of February an attack was made upon the 
lines of General Lee at Hatcher's Run, which resulted 
in a rei^ulse of the assailants. After this, quiet supervened, 
unbroken by any remarkable incident for several weeks. A 
history of our experience during this interval may be ex- 
pressed in the words, " We were only waiting." The mon- 
otony was now and then broken by the jDassage of troops 
through Richmond.- Many of them, from their rags and 
tatters, would have made admirable scare-crows had they 
made their appearance in the spring in our corn-fields; but 
their faces were radiant with courage and hope, and they 
cheerily, even at that time, carried forward the colors under 
which they had gained immortal renown. 

Our infantry troops, however, did not present such an 
aspect of misery as the cavalry. Among the latter we saw 
our tatterdemalions mounted on poor, weak, miserable ani- 
mals, scarcely more than moving skeletons. 

On the 25th of March, the quiet was broken. General Lee 



860 OPERATIONS OF GRANT AND LEE. 

made a sudden attack on Grant's lines soutli of the Appo- 
mattox, at Hare's Hill. It was a surprise, and at first sig- 
nally successful; but when tliorouglily aroused to their 
danger, the enemy made a determined resistance, and under 
the pressure of superior numbers. General Gordon, who 
directed the attack, was compelled to retire. 

Grant speedily retaliated for Lee's attempt to break his 
lines. In order to give an authentic account of the events 
which brought upon us a sudden and unexpected calamity 
that shocked our reason and unsettled memory, subjoined, 
from a history of the times, is a sketch of the battles around 
Petersburg : 

' ' On tlie 29tli of March, Grant began a heavy movement towards the 
Southside Kailroad. The cavalry command, consisting of General Davi- 
son's and Sheridan's cavalry, moved out on the Jerusalem Plank Road 
about three and a haK miles from Hancock Station, where they took the 
County road leading across the Weldon Railroad at Ream's Station, and 
into the Vaughan road one mile from Dinwiddle Court House, General 
Crook's division going in advance. They reached Dinwiddle Court 
House about four o'clock in the evening. 

"In the meantime, the Fifth and Sixth Corps of Infantry had been 
moving in a parallel line on the Vaughan Road. General Grant's 
headquarters on the night of the 29th were on the Boydtown plank road 
in the neighborhood of Gravelly Run. 

"The next day heavy rains impeded operations; but the force of the 
enemy pressed on towards the Five Forks, the extreme right of Lee's 
line on the Southside Railroad. General Lee had not been idle in meet- 
ing this movement. On the 31st of March, the enemy found on his front, 
prepared to contest the prize of the railroad, Pickett's Division of in- 
fantry, General Fitzhugh Lee's and General William H. F. Lee's divisions 
of cavalry. In the afternoon of the day the Confederates made a deter- 
mined and gallant charge upon the whole cavalry line of the Yankees; 
forced it back, and drove the enemy to a point within two miles of Din- 
widdle Court House. 

"But the news of Sheridan's repulse had no sooner reached General 
Grant, than the Fifth Corps was moved rapidly to his relief. The rein- 
forcement arrived in time to retrieve the fortunes of the enemy. The 
next day, April 1st, the combined forces of the Yanlcee cavaliy and 
"Warren's Infantry, advanced against the Confederates. Ovei-powered by 
numbers the Confederates retreat d to Five Forks, where they were 



OPEEATIONS OF GRANT AND LEE. 361 

flanked by a j^art of tlie Fifth Coips, which had moved down the White 
Oak Eoad. It was here that several thousand prisoners were taken. 

"On the night of Saturday, April 1st, the prospect was a most dis- 
couraging one for General Lee. Grant had held all his lines in front of 
Petersburg, had manoeuvred troops far to his left, had turned Lee's 
right, and was now evidently prepared to strike a blow upon the lines in 
front of Petersbm-g. 

"By daylight on Sunday, April 2d, these lines were assaulted in three 
different places, by as many different Yankee coi-ps. They were pierced 
in every place. The Sixth Corps went through first, at a point about 
opposite the western extremity of Petersburg; the Twenty -fourth, a little 
way further west ; and the Ninth Corps further east, near the Jerusalem 
plank road, capturing Fort Mahone, one of the largest forts in the 
Petersburg defences. The Confederates made a desperate struggle for 
Fort Mahone, which was protracted through the day, but without suc- 
cess. At dark the position of the contending parties was the same as 
during the day. 

"The Yankees had congratulated themselves that by the success ot 
the Sixth Corps, they had cut Lee's Army in two, cutting off the troops 
that were not in Petersburg. As that place was supposed to be the 
Confederate point of manoeuvre, as it was supposed that troops could not 
cross the Appomatox except through the city, their capture was taken 
as certain by the enemy, since they were hemmed in between Sheridan, 
the Sixth Corps and the river. But in this they were mistaken. The 
Confederates easily forced the river; and the close of the day found Lee's 
army brought together within the inner line of the Petersburg defences. 

"But the disasters which had ah'eady occurred were in General Lee's 
opinion irretrievable. Li killed and wounded his loss had been small- 
two thousand would probably cover it in the entire series of engage- 
ments; but he had lost an entire hne of defence around Petersbui-g, and 
with it the Southside raikoad, so important to Eichmond as an avenue of 
supply. 

Among tlie Confederate dead was the brave General A. 
P. Hill, whose name is reckoned amongst the most illustri- 
ous of the many heroes of the war. All through the long 
series of battles, for four years, it had been untarnished by 
a single accident or misfortune, or reproach, to dim the 
well-deserved brilliancy of its lustre, made memorable by 
deeds of heroism. 

The news came to us in Eichmond in fragmentary parcels; 
General Kill's death produced a profound sensation and 

IG 



362 EVACUATION OF IIICHMOND. 

unfeigned grief. But we dreamed not, as night brought the 
time for rest on the 1st of April, of the sad morrow in re- 
serve for us. The whole truth had not reached us. We 
slept, as it were, over the heaving crater of a volcano. Des- 
truction hovered over our fair city, yet happily we knew it 
not, and dreamed on in blissful unconsciousness of impend- 
ing danger. 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

EVACUATION OF KICHMOND BUKNING OF THE CITY. 

THE morning of the 2d of April, 1865, dawned brightly 
over the capital of the Southern Confederacy. A soft 
haze rested over the city, but above that, the sun shone 
with the warm pleasant radiance of early spring. The sky . 
was cloudless. No sound disturbed the stillness of the 
Sabbath morn, save the subdued murmur of the river, and 
the cheerful music of the church bells. The long familiar 
tumult of war broke not upon the sacred calmness of the 
day. Around the War Department, and the Post Office, 
news gatherers were assembled for the latest tidings, but 
nothing was bruited that deterred the masses fi'om seeking 
their accustomed places in the temples of the hving God. 
At St. Paul's church the usual congregation was in attend- 
ance. President Davis occupied his pew. 

It was again the regular monthly return for the celebra- 
tion of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The services 
were progressing as usual, no agitation nor disturbance with- 
drew the thoughts from holy contemplation, when a mes- 
senger was observed to make his way up the aisle, and to 
place in the hands of the President a sealed package. Mr. 
Davis arose, and was noticed to walk rather unsteadily out 
of the church. An uneasy whisper ran through the congre- 
gation, and intuitively they seemed possessed of the dread- 



EVACUATION OF EICHMOND. 363 

ful secret of the sealed clispatcli^ — tlie unliappy ccmdition of 
General Lee's army and tlie necessity for eyacuating Ricli- 
mond. The dispatch stated that this was inevitable unless 
his lines could be reformed before eight o'clock that evening. 

At the Second Presbyterian Church, Dr. Hoge, who had 
received information of the dire calamity impending over 
us, told his congregation of our situation, and the probabil- 
ity that never again would they meet there for worship, and 
in the thrilling eloquence of which he is so truly the master, 
bade them farewell. 

The direful tidings spread with the swiftness of electri- 
city. From lip to Hp, from men, women, children and 
servants, the news was bandied, but many received it at 
first, as only a " Sunday sensation rumor." Friend looked 
into the face of friend to meet only an expression of incred- 
uhty; but later in the day, as the truth, stark and appalling, 
confronted us, the answering look was that of stony, calm 
despair. Late in the afternoon the signs of evacuation be- 
came obvious to even the most incredulous. Wagons were 
driven furiously through the streets, to the different depart- 
ments, where they received as freight, the archives of the 
government, and canied them to the Danville Depot, to be 
there conveyed away by railroad. 

'Thousands of the citizens determined to evacuate the city 
mth the government. Vehicles commg,nded any price in 
any currency possessed by the individual desiring to escape 
from the doomed capital. The streets were filled with ex- 
cited crowds hurryiQg to the different avenues for ti'anspor- 
tation, intermiagled with porters carrying huge loads, and 
wagons piled up with incongruous heaps of baggage, of all 
&orts and descriptions. The banks Vvxre all oxoen, and de- 
positors were busily and anxiously collecting their specie 
deposits, and directors were as busily engaged in getting off 
their bullion. Millions of dollars of paper money, both 
State and Confederate, were carried to the Capitol Square 
and buried. 

Night came on, but with it no sleep for human eyes in 



864 EVACUATION OF EICHMOm). 

Eickmond. Confusion worse confotinded reigned, and grim 
terror spread in wild contagion. The City Council met, and 
ordered the destruction of all spirituous liquors, fearing 
lest, in the excitement, there would be temptation to drink, 
and thus render our situation still more terrible. In the 
gutters ran a stream of whiskey, and its fumes filled and 
impregnated the air. After night-fall Eichmond was ruled 
by the mob. In the principal business section of the city 
they surged in one black mass from store to store, breaking 
them open, robbing them, and in some instances (it is said) 
applying the torch to them. 

In the alarm and terror, the guards of the State Peniten- 
tiary fled from their posts, and numbers of the lawless and 
desperate villains incarcerated there, for crimes of every 
grade and hue, after setting fire to the workshops, made 
good the opportunity for escape, and donning garments 
stolen wherever they could get them, in exchange for their 
prison livery, roamed over the city like fierce, ferocious 
beasts. No human tongue, no pen, however gifted, can give 
an adequate description of the events of that awful night. 

"^Vhile these fearful scenes were being enacted on the 
streets, in-doors there was scarcely less excitement and con- 
fusion. Into every house terror penetrated. Ladies were 
busily engaged in collecting and secreting all the valuables 
possessed by them, together with cherished correspondence, 
yet they found time, and presence of mind to prepare a few 
comforts for friends forced to depart with the army or the 
government. Few tears were shed ; there was no time for 
weakness or sentiment. The grief was too deep, the agony 
too terrible to find vent through the ordinary channels of 
distress. Fathers, husbands, brothers and friends clasped 
their loved ones to their bosoms in convulsive and agonized 
embraces, and bade an adieu, oh, how heart-rending!* — 
X3erhaps, thought many of them, forever. 

* At elerven o'clock on that niglit, Colonel , on General 's staff, came into the 

city and was married. In a few moments he left his bride, in the terrible uncertainty 
of ever again meeting. 



EVACUATION OF RICHMOND. 865 

At midniglit tlie train on tlie Danville Railroad bore off 
the officers of the Government, and at the same hour many 
persons made their escape on the canal packets, and fled in 
the direction of Lynchburg. 

But a still more terrible element was destined to appear 
and add to the hon-ors of the scene. From some authority 
— it seems uncertain what — an order had been issued to fire 
the four principal tobacco warehouses. They were so situ- 
ated as to jeopardize the entire commercial portion of 
Richmond. At a late hour of the night. Mayor Mayo had 
dispatched, by a committee of citizens, a remonstrance 
against this reckless military order. But in the mad excite- 
ment of the moment the protest was unheeded. The torch 
was applied, and the helpless citizens were left to witness 
the destruction of their property. The rams in the James 
River were blown up. The " Richmond," the "Virginia" No. 
2 and the " Beaufort " were all scattered in fiery fragments to 
the four winds of heaven. The noise of these explosions, 
which occurred as the first grey streaks of dawn broke over 
Richmond, was like that of a hundred cannon at one time. 
The very foundations of the city were shaken ; windows 
were shattered more than two miles from where these gun- 
boats were exploded, and the frightened inhabitants imag- 
ined that the place was being furiously bombarded. The 
"Patrick Henry," a receiving-ship, was scuttled, and all the 
shipping at the wharves was fired except the flag-of- truce 
steamer " Allison." • 

As the sun rose on Richmond, such a spectacle was pre- 
sented as can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. 
To speed destruction, some malicious and foohsh individ- 
uals had cut the hose in the city. The fire was progressing 
with fearful rapidity. The roaring, the hissing, and the 
crackling of the flames were heard above the shouting and 
confusion of the immense crowd of plunderers who were 
moving amid the dense smoke like demons, pushing, riot- 
ing and swaying with their burdens to make a passage to 
the open air. From the lower portion of the city, near the 



S(56 EVACUATION OF RICHMOND 

river, dense black clouds of smoke arose as a pall of crape 
to hide the ravages of the devouring flames, which lifted 
their red tongues and leaped from building to building as 
if possessed of demoniac instinct, and intent upon whole- 
sale destruction. All the railroad bridges, and Mayo's 
Bridge, that crossed the James River and connected with 
Manchester, on the opposite side, were in flames. 

The most remarkable scenes, however, were said to have 
occurred at the commissary depot. Hundreds of Govern- 
ment wagons were loaded with bacon, flour and whiskey, 
and driven off in hot haste to join the retreating army. In 
a dense throng around the depot stood hundreds of men, 
women and children, black and white, provided with any- 
thing in which they could carry away provisions, awaiting 
the opening of the doors to rush in and help themselves. 
A cascade of whiskey streamed from the windows. About 
sunrise the doors were thrown open to the populace, and 
with a rush that seemed almost sufficient to bear off the 
building itself, they soon swept away all that remained of 
the Confederate commissariat of Richmond. 

By this time the flames had been applied to or had reached 
the arsenal, in which several hundred car loads of loaded 
shell were left. At every moment the most terrific explo- 
sions were sending forth their awful reverberations, and 
gave us the idea of a general bombardment. All the hor- 
rors of the final conflagration, when the earth shall be 
wrapped in flames and melt with fervent heat, were, it 
seemed to us, prefigured in our capital. 

At an early hour in the morning, the Mayor of the city, 
to whom it had been resigned by the military commander, 
proceeded to the lines of the enemy and surrendered it to 
General Godfrey Weitzel, who had been left by General Ord, 
when he withdrew one-half of his division to the lines 
investing Petersburg, to receive the surrender of Richmond. 
As early as eight o'clock in the morning, while the mob 
held possession of Main street, and were busily helping 
themselves to the contents of the dry goods stores and 



EVACUATION OP RICHMOND 867 

other shops in that portion of the city, and while a few of 
onr cavah^y were still to be seen here and there in the upper 
portions, a cry was raised : "The Yankees! The Yankees 
are coming !" Major A. H. Stevens, of the Fourth Massa- 
chusetts Cavalry, and Major E. E. Graves, of his staff, with 
forty cavalry, rode steadily into the city, proceeded directly 
to the Capitol, and planted once more the " Stars and 
Stripes" — the ensign of our subjugation — on that ancient 
edifice. As its folds were given to the breeze, while still we 
heard the roaring, hissing, crackling flames, the explosions 
of the shells and the shouting of the multitude, the strains 
of an old, familiar tune floated upon the air — a tune that, 
in days gone by, was wont to awaken a thrill of patriotism. 
But now only the most bitter and crushing recollections 
awoke within us, as upon our quickened hearing fell the 
strains of " The Star Spangled Banner." For us it was a 
requiem for buried hopes. 

As the day advanced, Weitzel's troops poured through 
the city. Long lines of negro calvary swept by the Ex- 
change Hotel, brandishing their swords and uttering sav- 
age cheers, rephed to by the shouts of those of their own 
color, who were trudging along under loads of plunder, 
laughing and exulting over the prizes they had secured from 
the wreck of the stores, rather than rejoicing at the more 
precious prize of freedom which had been won for them. On 
passed the colored troops, singing, " John Brown's body is 
mouldering in the grave," etc. 

By one o'clock in the day, the confusion reached its height. 
As soon as the Federal troops reached the city they were set 
to work by the officers to arrest the progress of the fire. 
By this time a wind had risen from the south, and seemed 
likely to carry the sui'ging flames all over the northwestern 
portion of the city. The most strenuous efforts were made 
to prevent this, and the grateful thanks of the people of 
Richmond are due to General Weitzel and other officers for 
their energetic measures to save the city from entire destruc- 
tion. 



868 EVACUATION OF RICHMOND. 

The Capitol Square now presented a novel appearance. 
On the soiitli, cast, and west of its lower half, it was bounded 
by burning buildings. The flames bursting from the win- 
dows, and rising from the roofs, were proclaiming in one 
wild roar their work of destruction. Myriads of sparks, 
borne upward by the current of hot air, were brightening 
and breaking in the dense smoke above. On the sward of 
the Square, fresh with the emerald green of early spring, 
thousands of wretched creatures, who had been driven from 
their dwellings by the devouring flames, were congxegated. 
Fathers and mothers, and weeping, frightened children 
sought this open space for a breath of fresh air. But here, 
even, it was almost as hot as a furnace. Intermingled with 
these miserable beings were the Federal troops in their 
garish uniform, re]3resenting almost every nation on the 
continent of Europe, and thousands of the Corps d'Afrique. 
All along on the north side of the Square were tethered 
the horses of the Federal cavalry, while, dotted about, were 
seen the white tents of the sutlers, in which there were 
temptingly displayed canned fruits and meats, crackers, 
cheese, etc. 

The roaring, crackling and hissing of the flames, the 
bursting of shells at the Confederate Arsenal, the sounds 
of instruments of martial music, the neighing of the horses, 
the shoutings of the multitude, in which could be distinctly 
distinguished the coarse, wild voices of the negroes, gave an 
idea of all the horrors of Pandemonium. Above all this 
scene of terror, hung a black shroud of smoke through which 
the sun shone with a lurid angry glare like an immense ball 
of blood that emitted sullen rays of light, as if loth to shine 
over a scene so appalling. 

Eemembering the unhappy fate of the citizens of Colum- 
bia and other cities of the South; and momentarily expect- 
ing pillage, and other evils incidental to the sacking of a 
city, great numbers of ladies sought the qDroper military 
authorities and were furnished with safeguards for the pro- 
tection of themselves and their homes. These were willingly 



EVACUATION OF EICHMOND. 869 

and generously fui-nished, and no scene of violence is remem- 
bered to have been committed by the troops which occupied 
Richmond. 

Throughout the entire day, those who had enriched them- 
selves by plundering the stores were busy in conveying off 
their goods. Laughing and jesting negroes tugged along 
with every conceivable description of merchandise, and 
many an astute shopkeeper from questionable quarters of 
Richmond thus added greatly to his former stock. 

The sun had set upon this terrible day before the awful 
reverberations of exploding shells at the arsenal ceased to be 
heard over Richmond: The evening came on. A deathhke 
quiet pervaded the late heaving and tumultuous city, broken 
only by the murmuring waters, of the river. Night drew her 
sable mantle over the mutilated remains of our beautiful 
capital, and we locked, and bolted, and barred our doors; 
but sleep had fled our eyelids. All night long we kept a 
fearful vigil, and hstened with beating heart and quickened 
ears for the faintest sound that might indicate the devel- 
opment of other and more terrible phases of horror. But 
fi'om all these we were mercifully and providentially spared. 

We will just here notice the range and extent of the fire 
which had in the afternoon literally burned itself out. From 
an authentic account we copy at length : 

"It had consumed the very heart of the city. A surveyor could 
scarcely have designated the business portion of the city more exactly 
than did the boundaries of the fire. Commencing at the Shockoe ware- 
house the fire radiated front and rear, and on two wings, bui-ning down 
to, but not destro}dng, the store No. 77 Main street, south side, halfway 
between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets, and back to the river through 
Gary and all the intermediate streets. Westward on Main the fire was 
stayed on Ninth Street, sweeping back to the river. On the north side 
of Main, the flames were stayed between Thuteenth and Fourteenth 
streets. From this point the flames raged on the north side of Main 
up to Eighth Street, and back to Bank Street. 

"Among some of the most prominent of the buildings destroyed 
were the Bank of Kichmond, Traders' Bank, Bank of the Common- 
wealth, Bank of Virginia, Farmers' Bank, all of the banking houses, 
the American Hotel, the Columbian Hotel, the Enquirer building, on 



870 EVACUATION OF RICHMOND. 

Twelfth Street, the Dispatch office and job-rooms, comer of Thirteenth 
and Main Streets, all that block of buildings known as Belvin's Block, 
the Examiner office, engine and machinery rooms, the Confederate Post 
Office Dej^artment building, the State Court House, a fine old building on 
the Capitol Square at its Franklin Street entrance, the Mechanics' Insti- 
tute, vacated by the Confederate War Department, and aU the buildings 
on that Square up to Eighth Street, and back to Main Street, the 
Confederate Arsenal, and the Laboratory on Seventh Street. 

"The streets were crowded with furniture and every description of 
wares, dashed down and trampled in the mud, or burned where it lay. 
All the government stores were thrown open, and what could not be got- 
ten off by the government was left to the people. 

" Next to the river the destruction of property was fearfully complete. 
The Danville and Petersburg Eailroad depots, and the buildings and 
shedding attached, for the distance of half-a-mile from the north side of 
Main Street to the river, and between Eighth and Fifteenth Streets, 
embracing upwards of twenty blocks, presented one waste of smoking 
ruins, blackened walls, and solitary chimneys. " 

Except the great fire in New York, in 1837, tliere is said 
never to have been so extensive a conflagration on this conti- 
nent as the burning of Richmond on that memorable day. 

Upon reaching the city, General Weitzel established his 
headquarters in the Hall of the State Capitol, previously 
occupied by the Virginia House of Delegates. He immedi- 
ately issued an order for the restoration of quiet, and 
intended to allay the fears and restore confidence and tran- 
quillity to the minds of the inhabitants. General Shepley 
was appointed Military Commander of Richmond, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Fred L. Manning was made acting Pro- 
vost Marshal. 

General Shepley issued an order which protected the 
citizens from insult and' depredation by the Federal soldiers, 
and which also included a morbidly sensitive clause in depre- 
cation of insult to the " flag," calculated rather to excite 
the derision than the indignation of the conquered inhabi- 
tants. 

The scenes of this day give rise to many reflections, the 
most of which are too deeply painful to dwell upon. The 
spirit of extortion, the wicked and inordinate greed of mam- 



VISIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO PJCHMOND. 371 

mon which sometimes overclouds and overules all the nobler 
instincts of humanity, are strikingly illustrated by a single 
incident in this connection. A lady passed up Franklin 
Street early on the morning of the 3d of April, and held in 
her hand a small phial in which there was about a table 
spoonful of paregoric. "This," said she, "I have just pur- 
chased on Main Street, at 's drug store. Kichmond is in 

flames, and yet for this spoonful of medicine for a sick ser- 
vant I had to pay five dollars." 

An hour had not passed when the fire consumed the 
establishment of. the extortionate vender of drugs. This 
incident points a moral which all can apply. Biches take to 
themselves wings, and in a moment least expected elude our 
gi-asp. Many who shirked the conscription, who made un- 
worthy use of exemption bills, for the purpose of heaping up 
and watching their ill-gotten treasures, saw them in a single 
hour reduced to ashes and made the sport of the winds of 
heaven. Truly man knoweth not what a day may bring forth. 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 



VISIT OF PKESIDENT LINCOLN TO RICHMOND — THE FEDERAL 
GOVERNMENT FEEDING THE PEOPLE. 

THE principal pillar that sustained the Confederate fab- 
ric had been overthrown, the chief corner-stone had 
been loosened and pushed fi'om its place, and the crumbhng 
of the entire edifice to a ruined and shapeless mass, seemed 
to us but a question of time. 

On the morning of the 4th of April, the people of Rich- 
mond were aroused from the partial paralysis that succeeded 
the terrors of the previous day, by loud shouting and cheer- 
ing on the streets. As they very readily conjectured, it was 
occasioned by the presence of his ExceUency the President of 
the United States. ]VIi\ Lincoln came up as far as Varina in 



372 VISIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO RICHMOND. 

the steamer "River Queen," and was thence drawn over in an 
ambulance to Richmond, where he met Admiral Porter, who 
had by that time reached the wharf in the Malvern. About 
eleven o'clock he walked up the streets of the half -burned city. 
He was accompanied by a young son, and escorted only by 
Admiral Porter, Captain Bell, a few marines and some of the 
citizens who had already declared Union sentiments, and had 
been apprised of his approach. Hundreds of the colored 
population thronged about him, to get a look at him, to 
shake his hand, to hear the tones of his voice, or otherwise to 
testify their admiration or secure his notice. He made his 
way to the Capitol. On the Square a superb carriage was 
in readiness for him, in which he was conveyed through the 
principal streets of the city. In the carriage were seated 
his son. Admiral Porter, and Captain Bell, while in attend- 
ance was an escort of negro cavalry. All along his triumphal 
passage, sable multitudes of both sexes and every age gath- 
ered and pressed around the vehicle to press or kiss his hand, 
or to get a word or look fi'om him. As the carriage rolled 
up the streets they ran after it in fimous excitement, and 
made the welkin ring with the loud and continuous cheering 
peculiar to their race. Mr. -Lincoln visited the late residence 
of Mr. Davis, and the principal places of interest in Rich- 
mond, and as night approached returned to the steamer that 
had conveyed him thither, and departed forever from the 
conquered capital of the rival government. 

A tissue of unhappy events had thrown the people of 
Richmond into the most painful and positive destitution. 
"We have before mentioned the universal circulation of Con- 
federate money. We have noticed the scarcity of provisions 
and the usual manner of living. The evacuation of the city 
found great numbers of the inhabitants totally without 
food, and entirely destitute of means by which it might be 
procured. The distress was wide spread, and to prevent the 
horrors of starvation immediate relief was demanded. In 
a very few days liberal assistance was extended through the 
Relief Association of the United States and the Christian 



VISIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO RICHMOND. 373 

Commission of tlie Federal army, and the United States 
Sanitary Commission dispensed suitable delicacies, and what, 
indeed, in many instances, seemed luxuries to the sick and 
enfeebled. 

To give an adequate idea of the extent of the destitution, 
we notice, from the Eichmond Whig, that Mr. J. L. Apper- 
son. Secretary of the Relief Committee, reported that from 
the 8th to the 15th of April, inclusive, 17,367 tickets were 
issued, calling for 86.555 rations. When the number of 
inhabitants in the city of Richmond is taken into the 
account, it will be seen that at least one-third of .the entire 
population remaining in the city (and thousands had fled 
when it was surrendered) were driven to the humiliation of 
subsisting alone on supplies of food furnished them by the 
conquerors. The sup23lies consisted of the coarsest and most 
substantial quaHty of edibles, yet they were not ungrate- 
fully, though with sickened hearts, received by the miser- 
able people who depended upon them to prevent hunger or 
starvation. 

The miseries of our situation, which would have been 
incalculable at best, were inconceivably enhanced by the 
disastrous burning of the business portion of the city. 
Nearly all the supplies of food were kept in the stores 
which were consumed by the fire, and our poor people were 
almost totally dependent upon the mercy of the captors. 
For several months no remunerative employment could be 
obtained by the masses, and they were compelled to hve by 
charity. The humiliation to many of this means of liveli- 
hood cannot be estimated. Commissary stores, where rations 
were dispensed, presented a novel aspect. Intermingled in 
a strange, incongruous and hitherto unacquainted throng, 
might be seen some of the most refined and delicately-nur- 
tured of the women of Virginia, (who were driven by cruel 
want to seek such subsistence,) with the coarse, rude and 
vulgar of questionable parts of the city, and frequently with 
negroes who had left their former homes, and who thus took 
their first step in freedom. 



374 THE SUKEENDEE OF LEE. 

The wretchedness of our people was sometimes made the 
subject of ridicule in certain of the illustrated periodicals 
of the North. One, which seems to find special dehght (or 
perhaps profit) in delineations of the* horrible, flourished 
an extensive illustration of " The Aristocratic Ladies of 
Richmond drawing Eations." For the sake of decency and 
humanity, and all the nobler instincts which must underlie 
the promptings of revenge or triumph in souls not dead- 
ened by vice to all feUow-feeling, we hope and must believe 
that the only pleasure experienced in representations hold- 
ing up to ridicule the want, misery and humiliation of starv- 
ing, helpless women, found lodgment only in the breasts oi 
ambitious sj)ecial artists and sj)eculative picture-mongers. 



CHAPTEE LXIV. 

THE SURRENDER OF LEE. 



AFTEE the occupation of Eichmond by the Federal 
forces, all tidings from our friends in the Confederate 
army were as entirely cut off as though an ocean rolled 
between us and them. Nearly a week had passed, when, an 
hour or two after sunset, reports of cannon disturbed the 
stiUness of the evening. 

It boded no good to us, and we immediately connected it 
with a victory over our war-worn and retreating army. It 
was the Sabbath evening of the 9th of April. Soon from 
lip to lip ran the dreadful intelligence: "General Lee has 
surrendered! " Our fears had boded but too truly ! Victory 
had perched triumphantly on the banners of our enemies, 
and our own cause, which had cost us four long and weary 
years of prayers and tears, of sacrifice, pain and woe and 
blood, was lost! "Our cause is lost!" How dreadfully, 
even at this moment, sounds the re-echo of those words, 
as we remember the crushing of our hoj)es at the tidings of 



THE SUERENDER OF LEE. 875 

General Lee's surrender. At tlie dawn of tlie following 
morning, we were awakened by tlie reverberations of can- 
non, tliat confirmed tbe news of the evening previous. On 
tlie streets, gathered here and there at the corners, small 
squads of citizens discussed the sad event. Upon every 
countenance rested the shadow of gloom, and on every 
heart the paralyzing torpor of despair. There was only 
one whisper of consolation left to comfort us in our misery; 
and that was, "At least, then, the tide of blood is stayed." 
No tears were shed. In the speechless agony of woe, in the 
mute eloquence of despair, we moved about, httle more than 
breathing automatons, and were slow to receive all the 
di'eadful truth, and slower still to say: "Thy will be done, 
oh Lord ! " 

In accordance with the opinion of Virginians generally, 
and of great numbers of the people of the South from other 
States, the Richmond Examiner, several weeks before the 
fall of the city, had used the following language : 

" The evacuation of Kichmond would be the loss, of all respect and 
authority towards the Confederate Government, the dismtegration of 
the ' army, and the abandonment of the scheme of an independent 
Southern confederation. Each contestant in the war has made Eich- 
mond the central object of all its plans and all its exertions. It has be- 
come the symbol of the Confederacy. Its loss would be material ruin to 
the cause, and in a moral point of view, absolutely destructive, crushing 
the heart and extinguishing the last hope of the country. Our armies 
would lose the incentive inspired by a great and worthy object of de- 
fence. Our military policy would be totally at sea ; we should be with- 
out hope or an object ; without civil or military organization ; without 
a treasury or commissariat ; without the means of keeping alive whole- 
some, and active pubhc sentiment ; without any of the appHances for 
supporting a cause depending upon popular faith and enthusiasm ; 
without the emblems or semblance of nationaHty." 

After the withdrawal of General Lee*s army, a very few 
days sufficed to prove the wisdom of this prophecy. As the 
retreat progTessed, day by day, the situation became more 
and more desperate. Thoroughly demoralised, and seeing 
the necessity of surrender inevitable, thousands threw away 



876 • THE SUERENDEK OF LEE. 

their arms, and wishing to avoid what they supposed might 
be the conditions of surrender, went to their homes. 

The meeting between General Lee and General Grant, to 
arrange terms of capitulation, took place at the house of 
Mr. Wilmer McLean. General Lee was attended only by 
Colonel Marshal, one of his aids, while with General Grant 
there were several of his staff officers, and a number of Fed- 
eral generals are said to have entered the room during the 
interview. 

The two commanders greeted each other with courtesy, 
and without delay proceeded to the business that had con- 
vened them. General Lee alluded at once to the conditions 
of surrender, expressed his satisfaction as to their leniency, 
and left the details to General Grant's own discretion. 
General Grant repeated the terms of the parole; that the 
arms should be stacked, the artillery parked and the sup- 
plies and munitions turned over to him, the officers to be 
allowed to retain their horses, side-arms and personal effects. 
General Lee promptly assented to the conditions, and the 
agreement of surrender was signed by him at haK-past three 
o'clock in the afternoon. 

General Lee's appearance on this memorable interview is 
thus described by a northern correspondent: — "General 
Lee looked very much jaded and worn, but nevertheless 
presented the same magnificent physique for which he had al- 
ways been noted. He was neatly dressed in grey cloth, without 
embroidery or any insignia of rank except three stars worn 
on the turned portion of his coat collar. His cheeks were 
very much bronzed by exposure, but still shone ruddy 
underneath it all. He is growmg quite bald, and wears 
the side-locks of his hair thrown across the upper por- 
tion of his forehead, which is white and fair as a wo- 
man's. He stands fully six feet one inch in height, and 
weighs something over two hundred pounds, without being 
burdened with a pound of superfluous flesh. During the 
whole interview he was retired and dignified to a degree 
bordering on taciturnity, but was free from all exhibition 



THE SURRENDER OF LEE. 877 

of temper or mortification. His demeanor was that of a 
tlioroughly possessed gentleman who had a ver}^ disagree- 
able duty to perform, and was determined to get through 
with it as well and as soon as he could." 

General Grant's conduct on this occasion was in the high- 
est degree magnanimous. The affair was conducted simply 
and quietly, and with no effort or desire on his part to make 
a sensation. He exhibited no triumphant exultation, and 
avoided everything which might serve to wound the feel- 
ings of his vanquished foe. His whole deportment indica- 
ted the possession of a great mind, and the nobility of a 
great heart. Before the surrender. General Grant had 
declared to his own officers, his intention not to require of 
General Lee, the same formahties as are required in a sur- 
render of the forces between two foreign nations or belliger- 
ent powers, and to exact no terms for the mere purpose of 
humiliation. 

While this interview between the commanders of the two 
armies was taking place, an informal conference of the gen- 
eral officers, occupied the period of the armistice. They met 
in the streets of Appomattox Court House. On the Federal 
side were Generals Ord, Sheridan, Crook, Gibbon, Griffin, 
Merritt, Ayers, Bartlett, Chamberlain, Forsyth and Michie. 
The Confederate army was represented by Generals Long- 
street, Heath, Gordon, Wilcox and others. None but gene- 
ral officers were allowed to pass through the skirmish line. 
Mutual introductions were given, healths were drank in 
whiskey, and there was a cordial interchange of fraternal 
feelings. This singular conference, from which was ban- 
ished all restraint, lasted for more than an hour, when these 
officers returned to their respective armies, to learn the re- 
sult of the important interview between the commanders. 

Both armies awaited in the most anxious suspense for the 
word that was . to signalize the resumption of hostilities, or 
the prospect of peace which would terminate the dreadful 
work of war. Anon, there was heard the clatter of hoofs, a 
flag of truce appeared, and an order from General Grant for 
a suspension of hostilities until further orders. 



378 SUERENDER OF LEE. 

After tlie interview witli General Grant, General Lee re- 
turned to ]iis own camp, where his leading officers awaited 
him. He made known to them the result and the condi- 
tions. They then approached him in the order of their 
rank, shook hands, exj^ressed satisfaction at the course he 
had taken, and regret at parting, all shedding tears. When 
General Lee appeared among his troops, after the surrender 
had been announced to them, he was loudly cheered. 

At four o'clock, when it was proclaimed to General Grant's 
army that the surrender had been comsummated, and the 
articles signed, the enthusiasm which had been restrained 
by uncertainty — broke loose. The brigade commanders 
announced to their commands the joyful news, and cheer 
after cheer of the most excititing description rent the air. 

On the day after the surrender, General Lee bade adieu 
to his troops in the following simple, manly and character- 
istic address: 

General Oedee, No. 9. 

Headquarters, Army of Northern VmGiNiA, \ 
April 10th, 1865.) 

After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage 
and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia lias been compelled to yield 
to overwhelming numbers and resources. 

I need not tell the survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have 
remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from 
no distrust of them ; but feeling that valor and devotion could accom- 
plish nothing that would compensate for the loss that would have 
attended the continuation of the contest, I have determined to avoid the 
useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their 
countrymen. 

By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return to their homes 
and remain there until exchanged. 

You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the con- 
sciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly i^ray that a mer- 
ciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. 

With an unceasing admiration for yoTir constancy and devotion to your 
country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consid- 
eration of myself— I bid you an affectionate farewell. 

H. E. Lee, General." 

With heavy hearts our soldiers now turned their steps 



* SURRENDER OF LEE. 879 

homeward. Sad were the partmg scenes as the veterans of 
the Army of Northern Virgmia bade each other adieu. The 
ties of friendship which had sprung up in the field, on the 
march, and in the camp were cemented by mutual glory, 
mutual toil, privation and suffering; and in the common 
cause, all were brethren. They returned to their homes, 
not to contemplate the independence they had struggled so 
bravely to win, but cruel, crushing, bitter disappointment. 
They accepted the decision with the fortitude of veteran 
soldiers. They acknowledged their defeat as indeed accom- 
phshed. But the fire of patriotism can never be quenched 
on the altar of such hearts as theirs. 

Among the missing from Richmond, who returned not to 
their homes with their comrades after the surrender, were 
two noble young men whose deeds of courage and bravery 
Avere the theme of universal admiration. Our youthful, no- 
ble Colonel Wilhe Pegram, (whose brother fell at Hatcher's 
Run) was killed in the very last engagement of the Army of 
Northern Virginia. His conduct at the time, is said to have 
been unsurpassed. He seemed to court death; and death 
accepted him! For days we mourned, also, the death of 

young C. M , the son of the beloved pastor of St. Paul's 

Church ; but finally our hearts were relieved when the news 
came, "he is not dead." However, a wound of the most 
painful character kept him hovering between life and death, 
for many days, and left him, as we then feared, a hopeless 
cripple. 

A few days after the surrender. General Lee, accompanied 
by five members of his staff, rode into Richmond. He had 
hoped to reach his home unnoticed, but the fact of his pres- 
ence spreading quickly through the city, crowds gathered 
around his door to receive him, and cheered him loudly as 
he approached. As he dismounted from his horse, large 
numbers pressed around him, and shook his hand warmly 
and sympathetically. Disengaging himself, in a few mo- 
ments he passed into his house, and thus withdrew from 
public observation. 



380 THE ASSASSINATION. 



CHAPTEE LXXV. 

THE ASSASSINATION CAPTURE OE JEFFERSON DAVIS CONCLUDING 

EVENTS OF THE WAR. 

THE news of the surrender of Lee's army had not been 
carried to remote distances in the South, nor even to 
all parts of the State of Virginia, nor had the people of 
Richmond more than begun to digest the unwelcome truth, 
when there came another starthng piece of information to 
disturb the public mind. 

It was the Sabbath afternoon of the 16th of April. The 
city was quiet. No sound arose to disturb the. serenity of 
the holy day. The church bells were calling the people 
to vesper service. But here and there, groups collected; 
and as they discussed the astounding intelligence which 
spread like electricity from one to another, doubt, amaze- 
ment, awe and incredulity, found expression on their coun- 
tenances. Passers by heard the ominous exclamation, " The 
President is killed !" 

It was whispered with bated breath, yet even a whisper is 
sometimes trumpet-tongued. "The President killed, Mr. 
Seward and his sons killed; the lives of the entire Cabinet 
attempted; the Vice-President escaping death only by a 
fortunate providence;" this was the appalling description of 
the AVashington tragedy, as we received it in Richmond on 
that Sabbath afternoon. 

The steps of many were arrested in their progress to 
church. They returned to their homes, or sought the houses 
of friends to inquire into the truth of the startling report. 
Many doubted it, and some accepted it, with the usual qual- 
ification of "A Sabbath day rumor." On the following morn- 
ing, a glance at the newspapers, with their columns divided 
by the broad black lines adopted by the press in mourn- 
ing, indicated that this was no mere fictitious report, gotten 
up for effect; no figment of morbidly excited imaginations. 
Though not so extensive and terrible as rumor had at first 



THE ASSASSINATION. 381 

declared, it was substantially true. The head of the nation 
had fallen. The man who so short a time before had 
made our city a visit, who had trodden the streets of our 
subjugated capital a conqueror, had been cut down by the 
hand of violence! Eeflection was terrible ! The judgments 
of God were abroad in the land! In sections where late 
there were exultation and universal acclamations of delight 
there was one long, loud wail of sorrow. The country was 
called to question where these judgments would sto^^? 
With reason overwhelmed by the sudden, awful and signal 
disjDensations of the Providence which distinguished this 
peculiar period in the history of our country, we laid our 
mouths in the dust, and were dumb before the awful majesty 
of the Eternal ! 

Vague conjectures succeeded surprise at the appalling 
news. With folded hands we watched the turn of the wheel 
of public events, and acknowledging the impotence of man 
to fathom the mind of the mighty God, with anxious hearts 
inquired, "What next?" 

In the wonderful charity which buries aU quarrels in the 
grave, Mr. Lincoln, dead, was no longer regarded in the 
character of an enemy; for with the generosity native to 
Southern character, all resentment was hidden in his tomb 
at Springfield. We were satisfied to let the "dead Past 
bury its dead." 

To finish the story of the war but little more remains to 
be told. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, 
w^as "the beginning of the end," and in effect terminated 
the contest. 

Contending against the most enormous odds, and without 
the necessary means for its longer prosecution, all attempts 
to continue the war successfully appeared to General John- 
ston as utterly futile. Under these circumstances, he an- 
nounced his conclusion to the governors of the States within 
his department in the following address: 

"The disaster in Virginia, the capture by the enemy of all workshops 
for the preparation of ammunition and repairing of arms, the impossi- 



882 END or THE WAE. 

bility of recruiting our little army, opposed by more than ten times its 
number, or supporting it except by robbing our own citizens, destroyed 
all hope of successful war. I have therefore made a military convention 
with Major General Sherman to terminate hostilities in North and South 
Carolina, Georgia and Florida. I made this convention to spare the 
blood of this httle army, to prevent further suffering of our people by the 
devastation and ruin inevitable from the marches of invading armies, 
and to avoid the crime of waging a hopeless war." 

The terms agreed upon between General Sherman and 
General Johnston, which were intended to insure protection 
to the citizens as well as to soldiers of the South, but which 
were understood to concede certain privileges and preroga- 
tives to the States, raised against the Federal Commander 
such a storm of indignation in Washington, and called down 
upon him such undeserved censure as required all his mili- 
tary reputation to withstand. The President repudiated 
them, the "War Department prohibited them, and General 
Grant, although an ardent personal friend of General Sher- 
man, censured them. 

So decided was the dissatisfaction at the conduct of Gene- 
ral Sherman, that Grant was ordered to proceed at once to 
North CaroHna, to take control of Sherman's army, and to 
compel Johnston at once to unconditional surrender. 

Here again General Grant exhibited the magnanimity of 
character shown so signally and grandly in his hour of 
triumph. Truly, as says a_ distinguished Southern author, 
"in'the most fortunate period in the life of any living man 
in America, Grant was not intoxicated by vanity or conceit. 
He was incapable of an attempt upon the reputation of a 
rival." 

General Grant, obedient to instructions, went to North 
Carolina, but he kept the military operations in the hands 
of Sherman, and insisted on giving him the honor of con- 
cluding the negotiations with General Johnston, and of re- 
ceiving the surrender of his army, which was finally effected 
upon such terms as had been conceded to General Lee. 

On the 4:th of May, General Dick Taylor surrendered to 
General Canby aU the forces, munitions of war, etc., in the 



END OF THE WAR. 383 

department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. 
The negotiations for this surrender were concluded at Cit- 
ronville, Alabama, and were essentially the same as those 
entered into mth Generals Lee and Johnston. 

Of the Confederate forces in Virginia, the last to lay 
down their arms were the brave band of dashing and valor- 
ous spirits that had rallied around our gallant young par- 
tisan leader, Colonel Jack Mosby. This remarkable young 
man left his law office in Bristol, on the western border of 
Virginia, and gathering up a band of chosen men, made his 
name one of dread to the enemy and a pillar of rehance to 
the South. It is now a household word. Jack Mosby — 
the Albemarle boy — the youthful, unpretending lawyer of a 
Western Virginia village, is known among our enemies as, 
"Mosby, the guerrilla," a name inspiring terror from un- 
pleasant remembrances of bitter retaliation, but in the 
South he is known as " Mosby, the young partisan warrior 
— Mosby, the hero." Being an independent organization, 
his force was not regarded as included in the siuu-ender of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. Some weeks subsequent to 
that event, he formally surrendered his command upon 
terms similar to those accorded his illustrious companions 
in arms. 

By the first days of May, all the Confederate forces east 
of the Mississippi had been surrendered. There only re- 
mained of the Southern armies in the field, the command 
of General Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi. With the 
struggling faith of a "drowning man that will catch at a 
straw " for safety, the hopes of some clung to the idea that 
Southern independence might at last be secured through 
the httle army that still carried its colors in the far South- 
west. General Smith endeavored to infuse into his troops 
a spiiit of confidence, a determination still to resist invasion, 
and predicted help from sympathetic foreign nations. He 
said to them: " The great resources of the Department, its 
vast extent, the numbers, discipline and efficiency of the 
army, will secure to our country terms that a proud i:>eople 



88i END OF THE WAR. 

can with honor accei^t; and may, under the providence of 
God, be the means of checking the triumph of our enemy, 
and securing the final success of our cause." War meetings 
were held in different parts of Texas. At Houston, General 
Magruder addressed the citizens, and told them he was not 
discouraged by the turn of events; and ended by protest- 
ing he had rather be a " Camanche Indian, than submit 
to the Yankees." 

The excitement and enthusiasm thus awakened, was how- 
ever momentary. When the extent of the disasters east of 
the Mississippi became fully known, symptoms of demorali- 
zation impossible to counteract speedily possessed the army 
of General Smith. On the 21st of May, he sent officers to 
Baton Kouge, where General Canby was then stationed, to 
negotiate with him terms of surrender. These were con- 
cluded on the 21st of May, and were such as had been 
accorded to other Confederate forces. 

This was the last act in the Confederate War for Inde- 
pendence. But all was not yet accomplished. We had to 
turn another leaf to look upon the epilogue of sorrow. With 
heart-sickening anxiety, with forebodings too dreadful to be 
whispered, we listened for tidings fi'om our beloved, our 
unhappy and fugitive President. We were painfully aware 
that his enemies were in pursuit of him. Various rumors 
were in circulation. His escape across the Mississippi was 
reported; and the doors of Mexico were said to have opened 
to him. 

On a bright Sabbath morning, after the middle of May, 
the voices of news-boys in the familiar cry, " Extra ! Extra !" 
drew us to the doors and windows; and our hearts were 
chilled, and our complexions paled, as in trembling agony, 
we heard proclaimed, "The capture of Jeff. Davis!" 

Thus was announced the fate of the unfortunate chief 
representative of our lost cause. What Southern heart can- 
not recall the sickening, the palsying weakness of that mo- 
ment ? Our chastisement seemed heavier than weak human 
nature could endure. 



END OF THE WAR. 885 

Our President a captive, the members of liis Council fugi- 
tives or prisoners, our cause perished, our country ruined, 
our land desolated, our armies overpowered ! We were left 
to muse oil the mutability of human events, to glance mourn- 
fully backward on the Past, and to gaze with steady, cold, 
dead calmness on the altered Present. We were driven to 
reflect on the strange and mysterious deahngs of the won- 
der-working hand of Go'd, and wiping the film from the 
eyes of faith, to steer clear of the wrecking reefs of infidel- 
ity. Should these j)ages fall under the eye of one disposed 
to censure, we ask that the tones of human sympathy may 
not fall on deadened ears, that the heart may not be 
steeled against the divine accents of tender mercy. 

It may be inquired how we fared under the regime of our 
conquerors, in the quondam capital of what has been deris- 
ively termed the "so-called Southern Confederacy." 

The psalmist of Israel teUs us when the ancient people 
were carried into Babylonish captivity: 

" By the rivers of Babylon we sat down, yea we wept wlien we remem- 
bered Zi on." 

" We banged our barps upon tbe willows in tbe midst tbereof." 
* ' For tbere tbey tbat carried ns away captive required of us a song : 
and tbey tbat wasted us, required of us mirtb." 

It cannot be denied that to some extent we experienced 
the bitter fruits of subjugation, so graphically described by 
David. The burden of our agony was thus expressed: "If 
I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning." The occupation of Eichmond by our enemies 
occurred at a peculiarly interesting period in the ecclesiasti- 
cal division of the year. It was the last week of the Lental 
season, the week which commemorates the passion of our 
Saviour. 

In the diocese of Yirginia, the clause in the prayer for the 
" President of the United States, and all others in author- 
ity," had been altered by order of the Bishop, to corres- 
pond to our status under the Confederacy. The Bishop 
being absent, it could not then be conveniently changed, 
17 



386 END OF THE WAR. 

and owing, as they felt they then owed, political allegiance 
only to the President of the Confederate States, and with 
no instruction at that time from their diocesan, to make use 
of the prayer differently, the Protestant Episcopal ministers 
of Kichmond could not conscientiously use the unamended 
prayer of the Prayer-book. They were therefore required 
by the military authorities of the city to close their churches. 
It was the most rigorous and aggravating feature of our 
peculiar situation, and was felt to be a direct blow upon the 
very root of the tree of religious liberty. In a few weeks 
these unhappy disagreements were reconciled, and the 
Bishop directed the use of the unamended prayer in the 
churches. 

There would be a failure in simple justice, and a com- 
promise of conscientious generosity, did we refuse to accord 
to those placed in temporary authority over us as military 
rulers of Eichmond, the offering of sincere gratitude, for the 
respect, the kindness, the lenity with which the citizens 
were treated. For a conquered people, the lines had 
fallen to us in pleasant places. The names of Ord, Weitzel, 
Patrick, Dent, Manning, Mulford and others, cannot be 
reniembered with unkindness. They softened greatly the 
first bitter experiences of our subjugation. 

The vast armies of our conquerors, on their homeward 
march, now began to pour through the streets of Richmond. 
iDay after day, as we witnessed the passage of the countless, 
and as they seemed to us interminable legions of the enemy, 
against which our comparatively little army had so obsti- 
nately, and all but successfully held out for four years, the 
question that arose in our minds, was not why we were con- 
quered at last, but "how we could have so long resisted the 
mighty appliances which operated against us." Our pride, 
our glory in our countrymen was heightened, and we felt 
indeed, " the South is the land for soldiers," and though our 
enemies triumphed, it was at a price that was felt by them. 

As General Meade's corps passed through Richmond,,,a 
singular acquaintance was revived with a lady, by one of 



END OF THE WAR. 387 

his men. Going accidentally to the front door of her house 
a soldier in a Federal uniform sprang up from the steps, 
and offered her his hand. She recoiled instantly, but over- 
come by the deprecating expression on the face of the man, 
she reluctantly extended her hand. 

" Do you not know me ?" inquired the soldier. 

"Your face is altogether familiar," replied the lady, "but 
you must pardon me for not knowing you under your blue 
jacket." 

" Don't you remember that you were kind to me in 

Hospital?" 

" Yes, I remember; I was attentive to you, when you were 
helpless, and needed attention and sympathy, and I should 
have done the same for any honorable soldier in the Union 
Army, had he been a sufferer and thrown under my notice — 
but then you were in the Confederate army, and how did it 
happen that you were so base as to be a deserter from our 
cause — the cause in which you then professed to find such 
glory ?'^ 

"Did you never hear?" returned the crest-fallen, guilty- 
looking man, who now cowered before the calm, steady 
gaze of the woman, " did you never hear that when I left 
Kichmond, I went to Fairfax County on some business for 
Major , when I was taken prisoner ? I was then car- 
ried to "Washington, and granted a parole. I then went to 
Philadelphia; there I made some unfortunate acquaintances, 
who invited me to a saloon to drink. I went with them — 
drank with them, and knew no more, until I found myself 
in a Yankee camp, with the bounty-money in my pocket." 

"No;" replied the lady, listening incredulously to the 
cunning story of the deserter, " I heard nothing whatever 
from you after your mysterious disappearance from Kich- 
mond." 

The deserter winced under the keen reproof he well un- 
derstood. As if to palliate his unprincij)led conduct, he 
remarked: "I never raised a gun against a Confederate sol- 
dier; I could not do it. This is my instrument, (holding 
up a bugle.) And I could not pass your house without 



888 LITE IN THE OLD LAND YET ! 

coming to tliank you for your great kindness to me 
when I was wounded and helpless." 

" I see, I see," replied the lady, sarcastically. " It has 
been returned most gratefully. I have no sympathy, sir, 
with desertei^s." 

While this conversation was going on, several Federal 
officers, attracted by the singular interview, gathered around, 
and smiled and bowed their admiration of the lady's re- 
marks. 

As she looked upon the disconcerted, miserable wretch 
before her, pity took the place of contempt; she regretted 
that the dormant spirit that rested in her bosom, should 
have been fanned into a blaze of such severity. Kindly ex- 
tending her hand to him, and modulating her voice to a 
softer key, she continued: "Listen to the voice of con- 
science, unless that in your bosom has become deadened by 
disuse, and I shall hope to hear better things of you here- 
after." •• 



CHAPTER LXXYI. 

LIFE IN THE OLD LAND YET ! 



FOR Richmond — the still fail* and beautiful "seven 
hiUed " city of the South — there is a great destiny in 
reserve. Earthly malice would be powerless to prevent it. 
Her climate invites it, her geographical position courts it, 
the intelligence, enterprise, and industry of her inhabitants 
will compel it; by her side the flowing waters of the classic 
stream upon which she proudly looks, send up a never 
ceasing cry to expend our might in works for her prosper- 
ity. We long to see the dust and rubbish removed, the 
city thoroughly rebuilt and enlarged, her wharves multi- 
plied, the waters of the Ja,mes turning hundreds of mills, 
and Richmond what Nature designed her to be, the great 
manufacturing metropolis of the Western Continent. 

The restoration of the railroad lines, now making good 



LIFE IN THE OLD LAND YET. 889 

progress, will again bring into her marts the varied produc- 
tions of her naturally generous soil. The farmer already 
carries on his arm the basket containing the seed of the rich 
and rare vegetable products which must once more deck her 
fields in loveliness, and bid her *' deserts rejoice and blos- 
som as the rose." The miner, even now, holds the pick 
which shall compel the jealous earth to disgorge her min- 
eral treasures for the use of her master — man ! 

The rising generation pray their native mother to forget 
not her ancient prestige, they plead for still greater Hght, 
they call for an increase of educational resources, for acade- 
mies and colleges, and with this cry is mingled the plaintive 
voice of the orphan. They conjure up the spirit of her 
statesmen, and whispering her honored and honorable 
names in their nation's history, pray her to remember: — 

' ' Beneatli tlie rule of men entirely great, 
The pen is mightier than the sword !" 

The energy, the enterprise, the almost universal self- 
abnegation, and complete devotion, with which the people 
of the South entered into and sustained the cause of the 
war, to all but a successful termination, prove that they 
are capable of still grander, and higher, and nobler enter- 
prises. The world must expect it, and they be held respon- 
sible if those expectations fail of reality. Disappointment 
does not comprehend a folding of the hands in sleep, nor 
defeat, death! 

From the Potomac to the Eio Grande, from the grass- 
covered prairies of the West to the Atlantic shores, over 
every desolate hill and valley, on every wasted homestead, 
upon every ruined hearthstone, is written as with an angel's 
pen, in letters of fire, the magic word Eesuroam ! 

" There is lite in the old land yet!" 

THE. END. 



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